Child mental health: government has “long way to go” to improve access, NAO finds

Mental health services for young people in England may struggle to meet demand despite ministerial pledges to boost funding, the government’s spending watchdog has warned.1

The National Audit Office (NAO) noted the government’s “laudable ambitions” to improve access by investing an additional £1.4bn (€1.6bn; $1.84bn) from 2015-16 to 2020-21. But it said that this was starting from “a very low base” and warned of “significant unmet need.”

The report identified slow progress on tackling staff shortages and “significant data …