Statement
Nothing says more about the state of a nation than the wellbeing of its children. That is why the Government made a clear commitment in its manifesto to improve the mental health of young people through specialist support and earlier intervention. We continue to make progress on delivering these manifesto commitments, such as access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, as part of our drive to reform the NHS through our 10 Year Health Plan and create opportunities for young people through mission-led Government.
Today, I wish to inform the House that the Government is providing continued top-up funding in 2025/26 for 24 Early Support Hubs in England and running an evaluation of the support that they deliver, backed by £7 million.
Building on a Shared Outcomes Fund project being delivered in 2024/25, this means that over 12,000 children and young people will continue to have access to innovative early mental health and wellbeing support at an early stage.
In our manifesto, we committed to providing open access mental health support for children and young people through Young Futures Hubs. Working with the Home Office, the Department for Education and colleagues from across government, our hope is that the evidence and insights collected through the Early Support Hubs evaluation will support the delivery of Young Futures Hubs, alongside best practice and learning from other initiatives. This learning will inform our ambitions for community mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people, and ensure that they have access to the kinds of support they need.
As well as providing mental health support in every community, we are also continuing work to recruit 8,500 new mental health workers to cut waiting times and ensure people can access treatment and support earlier.
I know that we still have a long way to go to ensure that all young people are provided with access to the mental health support they need, however today’s investment marks a step in the right direction to support children and young people’s mental health.
Early Support Hubs receiving funding
| Hub Name | Constituency |
1 | ABL Health | Mansfield, Steve Yemm |
2 | Base 25 | Wolverhampton West, Warinder Juss |
3 | Brook Young People | Truro and Falmouth, Jayne Kirkham |
4 | West Central London Mind | Cities of London and Westminster, Rachel Blake |
5 | Centre 33 | Cambridge, Daniel Zeichner |
6 | ChilyPep | Barnsley North, Dan Jarvis |
7 | The Children’s Society | Torbay, Steve Darling |
8 | The Children’s Society | Gateshead Central and Whickham, Mark Ferguson |
9 | CHUMS Charity | Mid Bedfordshire, Blake Stephenson |
10 | Family Action | Hackney South and Shoreditch, Meg Hillier |
11 | Isle of Wight Youth Trust | Isle of Wight West, Richard Quigley |
12 | Lancashire Mind | Chorley, Lindsay Hoyle |
13 | Mancroft Advice Project (MAP) | Norwich South, Clive Lewis |
14 | Noah's Ark Centre | Halifax, Kate Dearden |
15 | No Limits South | Southampton, Test, Satvir Kaur |
16 | Onside | Worcester, Tom Collins |
17 | People Potential Possibilities | Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Danny Beales |
18 | Sheffield Futures | Sheffield Central, Abtisam Mohamed |
19 | Spring North | Blackburn, Adnan Hussain |
20 | Warrington Youth Zone Limited | Warrington South, Sarah Hall |
21 | YMCA St Helens | St Helens South and Whiston, Marie Rimmer |
22 | Young Devon | North Devon, Ian Roome |
23 | Youth Enquiry Service | Wycombe, Emma Reynolds |
24 | Young Persons Advisory Service | Liverpool, Riverside, Kim Johnson |
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