Mental Health: Expected Spend

The Health and Care Act 2022 introduced a statutory requirement for the Government to publish an annual statement setting out expectations for NHS mental health services spending. This is to ensure better transparency as part of the Government’s commitment to parity of esteem, ensuring that patients can access services that treat both mental and physical health conditions equally and to the same standard. It also supports the Government’s commitment to uphold the mental health investment standard, which requires that integrated care boards’ spending on mental health grows at least in line with growth in overall recurrent funding allocations.

In January 2023, my predecessor made the first annual statement. Today I am publishing this second annual statement. It should be noted that, owing to the statutory requirement to make this statement before Parliament ahead of the new financial year, the figures for 2024-25 are the best current estimate based on projections that take account of draft planning guidance allocations, which will be published shortly. Figures for 2023-24 are based on month 11 forecast, as full-year spend is not yet available. There are also revised figures for 2022-23 and 2023-24 compared with the first annual statement made in January 2023.

In financial year 2022-23, mental health spending made up 8.87% of all recurrent NHS spending and 41 of 42 integrated care boards met the mental health investment standard. This is compared with our original forecast of 8.90% in January 2023.

In financial year 2023-24, mental health spending is forecast to make up 9.00% of all recurrent NHS spending, and all integrated care boards are expected to meet the mental health investment standard. This is compared with our original forecast of 8.92% in January 2023.

For 2024-25, mental health spending is forecast to make up 9.01% of all recurrent NHS spending, ensuring spending on mental health continues to grow in line with growth in overall recurrent funding allocations.

These encouraging projections, shown below, demonstrate the Government’s continuing commitment to expanding and transforming mental health services across England and to delivering sustained investment in this area across the country, and our ongoing commitment to parity of esteem for mental health.

This includes the total of all integrated care board baseline spend within scope of the mental health investment standard, which covers all spending on mental health from an integrated care board’s core allocation. It also includes, at NHS England level, service development fund spending and specialised commissioning spending on mental health.

These figures are different to those on the mental health dashboard, which includes learning disabilities and dementia spend in addition to mental health spend. It also compares integrated care board mental health spend to integrated care board allocations.

The autumn statement 2023 funding for NHS talking therapies, which totals to £21 million, is included in the total mental health spend in 2024-25. Additional spring Budget 2023 and autumn Budget 2023 funding for individual placement support, which totals £20 million, is also included.

Although capital spend is not included in the mental health investment standard or in the figures for total mental health spend, the Government are spending over £400 million during a four-year period, which started in 2020-21, to replace 1,370 dormitory beds in the mental health estate across England.

We remain committed to expanding and transforming mental health services across England.

[HCWS367]