Today, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announced the upcoming budget with measures to extend mental health crisis support and employment services. Responding on behalf of Mental Health Matters, Chief Executive Officer, Jane Hughes said:

"The government's commitment to expanding the mental health crisis offer is certainly welcome, particularly for crisis support models like our co-located service in Kent, which has reduced A&E visits for mental health by more than half.

However, we hope that the financial uplift will be more comprehensive in future, to allow the expansion of this pioneering model of support to more areas across England.

The government's plan for the NHS, moving care from hospitals to communities and focusing on prevention over cure, is an important step for the nation’s health. However, this needs to be accompanied by a commitment to the resources and workforce required to make this ambition a reality.

We look forward to contributing to the development of employment support, including the 'trailblazer' areas and Connect to Work programmes which aim to support those who are economically inactive due to ill-health back into work. These programmes will be key to supporting the 53% of people in 2023 who said they had depression, anxiety, or bad nerves in the ONS (2023) report into rising ill-health and economic inactivity because of long-term sickness.

We now await the publication of the Get Britain Working white paper and further details on the Department for Work and Pensions' plans to reform welfare, and hope these have a focus on reablement rather than stigmatisation".