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UK Launches £473m Mental Health Evidence Call, Record £16.1bn Budget

5/18/2026

Summary

DHSC Launches Call

DHSC launched a Call for Evidence on 15 May 2026 to shape mental health strategy, closing 10 July 2026.
The call seeks input from clinicians, nurses, providers and people with lived experience.
£473 million will fund emergency departments and school-based support teams for four years.
NHS mental health spending is forecast at a record £16.1 billion this year, up £140 million.
The service has recruited 8,500 mental health workers and will shift care from crisis-led to prevention.

Summary

DHSC Mental-Health Test

The strategy proposes a mental-health policy test for all future government decisions.
It will create a new mental-health commissioner role and launch a call for evidence on best-practice examples from employers, local government, education and community settings.
A 2022 plan announced by Health Secretary Sajid Javid was shelved after thousands contributed.
Officials link the rise in mental-health problems to a decade of austerity, growing inequality, technology changes and social polarisation.

Summary

DHSC Seeks Ideas

The call asks for obstacles to care when moving patients from hospitals to community services, from children’s to adult pathways.
It seeks ideas on commissioning, funding and accountability models for integrated mental-health services.
It asks how councils and NHS can improve partnership for people outside NHS eligibility.
The questionnaire requests preventive approaches to lower incidence, severity and suicide and shorten inpatient stays, with responses due by 10 July 2026 via a survey.

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DHSC Launches Call

DHSC launched a Call for Evidence on 15 May 2026 to shape mental health strategy, closing 10 July 2026.
The call seeks input from clinicians, nurses, providers and people with lived experience.
£473 million will fund emergency departments and school-based support teams for four years.
NHS mental health spending is forecast at a record £16.1 billion this year, up £140 million.
The service has recruited 8,500 mental health workers and will shift care from crisis-led to prevention.

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