Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

""

Autumn Statement brings some hope for mental health but more action needed to tackle long-term concerns

17 November 2022

The Government’s Autumn Statement today should help to ease some of the most immediate threats to the nation’s mental health, but for many people poverty and gaps in public services will continue to pose serious risks to wellbeing, Centre for Mental Health says today.

Centre for Mental Health welcomes the Chancellor’s decision to uprate means-tested social security benefits in line with September’s inflation figure of 10.1% in April next year. But it will leave millions of people living in poverty unless further steps are taken to raise benefit levels and to end discriminatory rules such as the two-child limit on child benefit payments. We are also disappointed that the Government has not removed conditionality from out-of-work benefits that put people’s mental health at risk from the use of sanctions.

The Centre also welcomes the increase in the Living Wage: a vital protection for the mental health of people on low pay. It is vital that employers pay all of their staff and contractors a fair wage that allows them to live in the current crisis in living standards.

The Chancellor’s pledges to increase NHS spending over the next two years, and to develop a robust NHS workforce plan, will be welcome. It is essential that promises made to expand mental health services in the Long Term Plan are kept. The £2.3 billion pledged for better mental health services must be delivered, with additional funding made available to cover inflationary pressures on what that will provide. And it must be accompanied by further investment in social care for people with mental health difficulties.

The New Hospitals Programme has given little attention so far to mental health services. Only two of the 40 schemes announced previously were for mental health care, leaving many outdated and dilapidated buildings to provide care for people needing urgent treatment. Future capital spending in the NHS must put this disparity right as a matter of urgency.

It is disappointing that the Autumn Statement makes no new pledges for public health spending. Local councils’ public health services play a vital role in supporting better health and preventing illness. They urgently need extra funding to offset the dramatic reductions they have had since 2015.

Join us in the fight for equality in mental health

We’re dedicated to eradicating mental health inequalities. But we can’t do it without your support.

Please take this journey with us – donate today.

Donate now

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required
 

 

We take care to protect and respect any personal data you share with us.
For information on how we use your data, check out our privacy policy.