Local authorities have been blasted for ‘unacceptably low’ spending on public mental health, despite allocating millions of pounds for improving physical wellbeing.
Data obtained by charity Mind through freedom of information requests suggests councils in England spend an average of 1.36% of their public health budget on mental health.
While mental health problems are estimated to cost the country £100bn each year, local authority allocations for public mental health are thought to be so low that they are often filed under ‘miscellaneous’ spending.
Total annual spend by town halls on preventing physical health problems includes £160m to help people quit smoking, £108m to tackle obesity and £671m on sexual health initiatives. Research by Mind suggests equivalent spending for preventing mental health problems stands at less than £40m.
The charity has called for a national strategy to ensure councils and public health teams spend funds to prevent mental health problems developing in the local community.
Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, said: ‘While local authorities are happy to spend on preventing physical health problems, their equivalent spending on mental health is unacceptably low.
‘We need to invest in everyone’s mental health, particularly for people who are more likely to become unwell such as younger people, pregnant women, people who are isolated, or those living with a long term physical health problem.
‘Local authorities need much clearer guidance and support on how best to tackle mental health problems. We want the next Government to introduce a national strategy to ensure local authorities know what to do, and use their budgets to prevent mental health problems developing and reduce the number of people becoming unwell.’
