More than 930,000 children and young people in England were waiting for mental health support in March, as new figures expose a record surge in referrals alongside the longest waits ever recorded.
The charity YoungMinds, analysing NHS England data, reported 932,822 under-18s had an active mental health referral during the month. This included 134,837 new referrals – both the highest numbers on record for a single month. New referrals rose 11 per cent from February and were 2 per cent higher than the same period last year.
Urgent, very urgent and emergency care referrals for young people reached 8,631 in March, a 16 per cent increase from the previous month’s 7,443. The previous peak for such referrals was 1,284 in June 2025.
Extreme waiting times for urgent care
Despite the rising number of children being referred for help, average waiting times have now exceeded 300 days for eight consecutive months. In March, the average wait stood at 301 days – 13 days longer than the same month in 2024. In the most extreme cases, patients had to wait more than two and a half years – 1,006 days – a record high and an increase of 146 days from the previous year.
Official figures from earlier periods paint an even bleaker picture. In 2023/24, 78,577 young people waited longer than a year for mental health treatment, a 52 per cent rise on the previous year, and of those, 34,191 had been waiting more than two years. In 2022-23, 372,800 referrals were closed before children ever accessed support.
Geographical inequalities add to the crisis. Average waiting times vary wildly, creating what campaigners describe as a “postcode lottery” for care. For instance, the average wait in Portsmouth is 133 days, compared to just four days in Southend. Many young people are also told they do not meet the threshold for specialist mental health services, leaving them without help.
Abigail Ampofo, interim chief executive of YoungMinds, said: “These alarming figures highlight the sheer scale of the mental health emergency. While waiting lists for the treatment of physical health problems are going down, the time young people are spending trying to access specialist support for their mental health continues to rise.”
Root causes and calls for urgent action
YoungMinds points to a combination of pressures harming young people’s mental health, including academic demands, rising living costs and inequality. Research suggests that for every one-point increase in academic pressure at age 15, the likelihood of depression by age 16 increases by 25 per cent, and this association persists into adulthood.
The cost of living crisis is taking a heavy toll. According to YoungMinds, 90 per cent of young people worry about earning enough to support themselves, nearly half report that financial pressures affect their ability to heat their homes, and over a third say they feel more lonely because they have cut back on social activities to save money. Young people from marginalised communities are disproportionately affected.
Inequality is stark. Among eight to 16-year-olds with a probable mental disorder, 26.8 per cent had a parent who could not afford for them to take part in extracurricular activities, compared to 10.3 per cent of those without a disorder. Young women aged 17 to 25 are twice as likely to have a mental health problem as young men of the same age. Bullying is also a major factor – children aged 11 to 16 with a probable mental health condition were five times more likely to have been bullied in person than their peers.
The prevalence of mental health conditions is rising. In 2023, approximately one in five children and young people aged eight to 25 had a probable mental health condition. Among eight to 16-year-olds the rate was 20.3 per cent, rising to 23.3 per cent for 17 to 19-year-olds and 21.7 per cent for 20 to 25-year-olds. The rates have been climbing since 2017, with a particularly sharp rise in the 17 to 19 age group. Eating disorders have also surged: between 2017 and 2023, the proportion of young women aged 17 to 19 with an eating disorder rose from 1.6 per cent to 20.8 per cent, and among young men of the same age from 0.0 per cent to 5.1 per cent. In 2023, 12.5 per cent of 17 to 19-year-olds had an eating disorder.
The consequences of untreated mental illness are severe. Suicide was the leading cause of death for people aged five to 35 in England in 2022, with boys and young men accounting for roughly three-quarters of those deaths. Almost one-third of 17 to 24-year-olds have self-harmed or attempted to self-harm at some point, rising to 69.5 per cent among those with a probable mental health condition. Sleep disruption affects 85 per cent of eight to 16-year-olds with a condition, and 96 per cent of those aged 17 to 23. School absence is also high – in 2023, nearly a third of 11 to 16-year-olds with a probable condition missed a week or more of school, compared to 10 per cent of their peers.
Access to services remains woefully inadequate. Less than half – 49 per cent – of the estimated 1.4 million children with a diagnosable mental health problem received at least one contact with child and adolescent mental health services in 2022-23. Children with suspected autism face the longest waits, with a median of 216 days, and there is no official national data on waiting times for autism and ADHD services. Ethnic disparities persist: Black and mixed-race children account for 36 per cent of young people detained in acute mental health services despite making up just 11 per cent of the population, yet young Black people constitute only 5 per cent of those accessing community-based services.
In response, the government has announced a cross-government mental health strategy, which YoungMinds welcomes. But, Ms Ampofo warned: “With a record number of young people being referred for support, we can’t wait until that strategy is in place to turn things around. We need both a long-term plan and urgent action.”
Specific measures in the pipeline include the recruitment of 8,500 additional mental health staff, the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges aiming for full coverage by 2029, and the creation of Young Futures Hubs to connect young people to NHS mental health services. The NHS Alliance is also pressing the government to introduce a clear four-week waiting standard from first referral to improve accountability and drive investment.
YoungMinds, in its latest figures, says its Parents Helpline supported nearly 14,000 parents and carers in 2025, and M&S has committed to raising £1.5 million for the charity in 2026. The charity stresses that early intervention is critical – more than half of all mental health disorders start before age 14, and 75 per cent by age 24.
Despite these plans, the current scale of the crisis means thousands of children are simply not receiving the help they need. Suicide remains the leading cause of death among five to 35-year-olds in England, with boys and young men accounting for three-quarters of those deaths. In 2022-23, fewer than half of the estimated 1.4 million children with a diagnosable mental health condition received any specialist contact.