Spending on mental health services for working age people in England has stalled, and that for older people has shown a decline, show two reports published by the Department of Health.1 2

In cash terms, spending on working age people continued its 10 year rise, reaching £6.63bn (€8.4bn; $10.4bn) in 2011-12, a 1.2% increase. But when corrected for inflation this represented a real terms decrease of 1% on the 2010-11 figure. Among people aged 65 years or over the amount spent fell in cash and in real terms. The total spend in this age group was £2.83bn, a fall of 1%, and when inflation is taken into account this represented a real terms decline of 3.1%.

By comparison, figures from the Treasury’s public spending statistics, …