Pandemic’s effect on young ‘poses threat to UK prosperity’

THE impact of the pandemic on children’s mental health is a threat to the “prosperity and success” of the country, a report has found.

Anne Longfield, former children’s commissioner and chairman of the Commission on Young Lives, said children and young people in England were facing a “mental health emergency”.

Teachers, charities and parents said that self-harm, attempted suicide, anxiety and behavioural difficulties had become “more extreme and frequent since lockdown”, according to a report by the commission.

The Daily Telegraph has been campaigning to put children at the centre of the nation’s recovery from repeated lockdowns, after warnings they have been disproportionately affected.

Access to mental health services is a “postcode lottery”, the commission said, with a recent survey from Young Minds reporting that 76 per cent of parents think their children’s mental health deteriorated while waiting for help.

There has been a surge in demand for help, with 90,789 referred to NHS children and young people’s mental health services in March this year, the highest figure since records began.

Overall, one in six children aged six to 16 has a probable mental health problem – a “huge increase” from one in nine in 2017, the report found.

Ms Longfield said: “The children’s mental health emergency in England is so profound that we face a generational threat to our country’s future national prosperity and success. The scale of the problem is growing and the system is buckling under pressure.”

A government spokesman said: “We are committed to ensuring children can access support and resources as early as possible.”

They added that the Government had committed £79 million to ensure 22,000 more children can access mental health services, as well as investing to expand the children’s mental health workforce by 40 per cent.