Upstream cash-based interventions are key to addressing mental health among children and young people

Written evidence submitted by the Common Sense Policy Group to the Education Committee & Health and Social Care Committee Inquiry into Children and Young People's Mental Health.

Mental health conditions have slowly been increasing among young people in the UK. Between 2012-13 and 2022-23, incidences of mental health conditions for under 25s rose by 10 percentage points (Stark et al., 2024). A meta-analysis of 11 high-income countries indicated that one in eight children have mental disorders (Barican et al., 2022). So far, the approach to addressing children and young people’s mental health has centred on expanding services. Rising demand and under-funded services are leaving thousands of young people without the support they need (Fashina-Ayilara & Byrne, 2025). In addition to service provision, there is a growing focus on the underlying causes of poor mental health in children and young people and how to best prevent mental health problems from worsening. It is argued that a series of crises from austerity, the Covid-19 pandemic and cost of living pressures may have contributed to a significant rise in childhood mental health (Ma et al., 2021; Thomson & Katikireddi, 2018; ). In particular, substantial body of evidence demonstrates that mental health conditions – in particular, anxiety and depression – are shaped by social determinants including income, education, social capital and opportunity (Kromydas et al., 2021; Parra-Mujica et al., 2023; Thomson et al., 2022). Indeed the likelihood of children and young people experiencing clinically significant anxiety and depression increases consistently as household income decreases, with each lower income group reporting higher rates of symptoms than the income group above it (Chen et al., 2023). This reflects the financial strain experienced across whole households after essential costs have been covered (Johnson et al., 2022; Nettle et al., 2024; Villadsen et al., 2024). Tackling children and young people’s mental ill health therefore requires addressing its economic causes, something that education, community provision and the NHS, however well resourced, cannot do alone.