14 times more funding given to mental health services for Sheffield’s adults than its children and young people

Around £140m is given to Sheffield per year for adult mental health - compared to just £10m for children and young people.

Next year there should be another £5million added to the budget and health chiefs say they will have the freedom to spend more on young people.

Jim Milnes, deputy director of mental health transformation, told scrutiny meeting: “We are now at a crossroads with a huge increase in the amount of referrals to mental health services for children and young people but we have not caught up with resources and we are not equipped as a system to deal with this level of demand.

“We’re now bringing together adult and children budgets and we have the opportunity to start spending that differently.

“Half of all mental health manifests by the time a child is 14 and it’s 75 per cent by the time they are 18.

“So we largely know who the people are who will become adults with long term enduring mental health and we need to target our resources accordingly.

“The £5m is the tip of the iceberg, it’s a big figure but woefully short and it will be a journey to rectify some of the wrongs from many years.”

Coun Jackie Drayton, Cabinet member for children and young people, said there were some excellent mental health pilots but they were not in every school and funding was limited.

“It’s all very well but these are grants and we need to ensure that work continues. There is money from the Government but it’s not enough.

“We still have challenges on waiting times and getting the first appointment. We are not complacent but we don’t have enough money in mental health services

“It’s great we are working in schools but the challenge is how we go forward. We need to get more money for mental health in general.”