We cannot believe another year has passed by already. It’s been a year of continuous growth for the Coalition, and we have reached over 360 members. It’s heartening to see the passion for babies, children and young people’s mental health across so many organisations. Thank you to all our members for your continued support, the Coalition would not be where it is today without you all!

In this blog, we share our achievements from 2024.

So, what did we achieve this year?

We were pleased to produce two new reports this year. In April, in collaboration with Centre for Mental Health, we published ‘Not in School: the mental health barriers to school attendance’ which explored the wide range of barriers to school attendance and government initiatives to tackle school absence. The report concluded that current government initiatives do not adequately address these barriers to school and wider change is required. You can read more about our findings and recommendations here.

Following this, in July alongside Centre for Mental Health and Save the Children UK we published ‘A Dual Crisis: The hidden link between poverty and children’s mental health’ which explored the impact of poverty and benefit conditionality on families’ mental health. Based on research with parents and children, and a review of the evidence, the report found that children are being failed by the state’s inability to combat the dual crises of poverty and mental health. You can read the report here.

The big event of 2024 was the general election. We published our asks for political parties in November 2023, in our Manifesto for Babies, Children and Young People’s Mental Health. Our manifesto called for all political parties to:

  • Commit additional funding to Integrated Care Systems to develop a comprehensive mental health pathway for all babies, children and young people.
  • Embed whole educational approaches to mental health and wellbeing in all education settings.
  • Roll out early support hubs in every local area.
  • Reform the Mental Health Act 1983.

As the general election drew closer, in May, we commissioned More in Common to carry out a survey of voters aged 18 and over to understand more about the general public’s views on children and young people’s mental health. The results from our poll showed that 59% of respondents felt that political leaders had failed to do enough to address the mental health of babies, children and young people in the last decade. You can read the findings from our poll here.

We also produced briefings to share the regional differences in responses.  Despite slight differences, across all nine regions the consensus was clear: there has not been enough support for children and young people’s mental health.

We were pleased to see commitments to babies, children and young people’s mental health across all three political parties.

This biggest change this year was the new Government. We were pleased to see the new Government make a range of commitment’s to improving children and young people’s mental health in their manifesto. This included:

  • An ambition for ‘the healthiest generation of children ever’ and a commitment to achieving parity of esteem with physical health
  • A pledge to provide access to a mental health professional in every school
  • A pledge to establish Young Future’s Hubs in every local area so that children and young people can access early support for their mental health
  • A pledge to recruit 8500 new mental health professionals
  • A commitment to modernise the Mental Health Act.

The first King’s speech in July marked a positive step in the right direction for the mental health of babies, children and young people. The King’s Speech included a commitment to achieve party of esteem between physical and mental health, as well as introducing a new Children’s Wellbeing Bill and a new Mental Health Bill to reform the Mental Health Act 1983. You can read our response to the King’s Speech here.

The government has also introduced a new 10- Year Health Plan, a part of the government’s health mission to reform the health system to one that is fit for the future. We worked with our members to respond to the 10-Year Health Plan consultation, making clear that babies, children and young people’s mental health must be a priority. You can read our response here.

This year, we were pleased to finally see the introduction of the long-awaited Mental Health Bill to reform the Mental Health Act 1983. Alongside our working group of experts, we have been working to ensure that the modernisation of the Mental Health Act considers the specific needs of children and young people. While the reforms are proposed to apply equally to children and young people, it is important that their specific needs are considered, and adjustments made so the Bill works in practice for them.

The Bill has now undergone second reading, and we are now waiting for Committee stage to commence in the New Year. To understand more about the reform to the Mental Health Act and our priorities for the Bill you can read our blog and second reading briefing.

This year, we have had a jam packed agenda of member lunch and learn webinars. We heard from so many members about various topics ranging from mental health and money to the impact of the climate crisis, resources for trauma and challenging structural Islamophobia. If you want to catch up on any of these sessions, take a look at our lunch and learn webinar page.

Looking forward to 2025

We’re looking forward to the next year to continue our work with the new Government to turn the tide on babies, children and young people’s mental health. We look forward to continuing to work with members to achieve the change that we all want to see.