The Local Government Association (LGA) is urging the Government to extend funding for suicide prevention projects in the Spring Budget.
In 2019, the NHS Long Term Plan allocated £57m for suicide prevention and bereavement services to local areas in England.
Each local area received money for three years, with areas with the highest suicide rates receiving it first. By this March, funding in every area from this pot will end.
The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) has not confirmed whether funding will continue, and the LGA said councils are concerned about having to stop projects or scale them down significantly.
LGA community wellbeing board chairman David Fothergill said: ‘Councils desperately want to be able to keep tackling this issue, update their local suicide prevention plans in line with the new national suicide prevention strategy, and improve the wellbeing of their areas.’
A DHSC spokesperson said: ‘Our national suicide prevention strategy is helping thousands of people approaching crisis to get the support they need.’
