More cuts to mental health funding as campaigners respond in anger

5 September 2024
by Robert Armour

Prevention efforts will be hampered

Scotland’s leading mental health organisations have expressed severe concern at further cuts to mental health funding by the Scottish Government.

Some £18.8M is to be taken from the Mental Health Services budget in this financial year, as announced by the Finance Secretary on 3 September 2024.

A total of £115.8M is to be cut from the Health and Social Care Portfolio, meaning mental health will suffer a disproportionate share of 16%. Scotland’s Mental Health Partnership has expressed its alarm as mental health is, yet again, seen as a low priority by the Scottish Government.

The latest cuts are likely to have a severe effect on services already under pressure, with rising demand and staffing shortages common. Those seeking assistance will find it more difficult to access services and pressure on staff will increase. And new initiatives that seek to prevent mental health issues arising are likely to be delayed or deleted from programmes.

In its Programme for Government, the Scottish Government has pledged to increase spending on mental health services to 10% of the total frontline NHS budget by 2026.

However, recent Public Health Scotland data suggests that even this modest target has yet to be met. The current figure is only 8.8% - which amounts to a shortfall of £180 million each year. And this latest cut will reduce the figure even further, making it inevitable that the 10% commitment will be broken, to the detriment of those seeking help.

Lee Knifton, chair of Scotland’s Mental Health Partnership, said: “Not only is Scottish Government failing to meet its own stated commitment to increase mental health funding, these additional cuts will actually make the position worse.

"Prevention efforts will be hampered by lack of funds and pressures on services that are already struggling will increase.

“We are at the early stages of implementing a new and ambitious Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, which adopts our Promote, Prevent, Provide framework. But actions to deliver the high-quality mental health supports and services we need now were already stalling because of lack of resources.

"These latest unfair and disproportionate cuts to mental health services will only exacerbate the position.”

More cuts to mental health funding as campaigners respond in anger