Children and young people’s mental health

We are working to help charities and funders close the gaps in mental health support for children and young people.

Young people are facing a growing mental health crisis:

• 1 in 5 children aged 5-16 are likely to have a mental health problem
• 1 in 5 young people in England aged 8-25 had a ‘probable mental health disorder’ in 2023
• 50% of adult mental health problems are present by age 15, and 75% are present by age 24.
• 70% of people in the UK agree that young people’s mental health is worse today than it was for previous generations.

NPC has a long history of working on young people’s mental health:

• Our 2008 report ‘Heads Up’ highlighted the importance of early intervention, but also how little money is spent on young people’s mental health services compared to adult mental health services.
• We looked at digital mental health services for young people in 2019 and 2021 research, culminating in Signpost+, a project which works to make support easier to find online.

Today, we continue to explore this important issue.

Our recent research on the youth mental health crisis explores ​​how charities are coping with a huge rise in demand.

Our new project, announced in March 2025, will map mental health support systems to identify gaps and suggest ways that charities and funders can fill them.

The £145,000 project will be delivered in partnership with the Children & Young People’s Mental Health Coalition and Centre for Mental Health, and is funded by BBC Children in Need, the AD Charitable Trust, and the Rayne Foundation.

The new research will look at existing support and identify gaps where children and young people are unable to access support. Researchers will work with charities, funders, mental health professionals, and young people themselves to develop recommendations for charities and funders so that every young person gets the help they need, when they need it.

We are working with Caudwell Youth, Holding Space, Investing in Children, and Chilypep so that we hear directly from children, young people, parents, carers and charities in understanding how we can re-build the mental health system, so that it truly works for those who need it.

We know that complexity in the system makes it difficult for funders to know where to put their funding. We hope this new work will assist with that process.