Concerns over mental health funding after ‘disproportionate’ £18m cut

A charity and the National Union of Students have voiced concerns about cuts in mental health funding, saying the Scottish Government is failing to deliver what it promised.

In her financial update on Tuesday, Shona Robison said there would be savings of £18.8 million from mental health services in the current financial year.

This included cutting back funding for “student mental health measures”.

However, John Swinney promised improvements in his Programme for Government speech on Wednesday.

The First Minister said the Government aimed to meet the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times standard nationally and clear backlogs by December 2025.

The CAMHS target for 90% of children and young people to be seen within 18 weeks of referral has not been met since its introduction in 2014.

Jim Hume, public affairs director at Change Mental Health, said: “The cut to the mental health budget is disproportionate to the whole health budget and widens the gap between what the Scottish Government promised and what is being achieved.

“The Scottish Government promised that, in this Parliament, 10% of the health budget would be spent on mental health, the current spend is 8.8% and now the Government state that of their £115.8 million cut from the health budget, 16.2% of that shall be taken off the mental health budget, further widening the gap between spend on mental health and physical health.

“The programme for Government launched today mentions mental health funds for the NHS but fails to recognise that people need support pre-crisis in their community.

“The Government needs to prioritise mental health and meet their commitment to 10% of the health budget supporting those with poor mental health which will, in turn, help Scotland tackle poverty.”

Sai Shraddha Viswanathan, who is president of the National Union of Students in Scotland, said there is a “growing mental health crisis” among students.

She said: “We’re very concerned by the budget cut announcements made yesterday, particularly to student mental health services.

“When they invest in mental health services within colleges, universities and student unions, the Scottish Government are safeguarding students from crisis and saving more money having to be spent down the line on crisis intervention.

“Any cuts to these services are therefore short-sighted and costly and must be reconsidered.”

She added: “As (the Government) prepare to release their action plan for student mental health in the coming weeks, we are calling for not just kind words but a commitment to long-term, sustained funding of student mental health programs.”