{ "meta": { "title": "Children's mental health: the wait for help", "standfirst": "How long children wait for mental health support, from NHS England's monthly figures for April 2026. About 520,488 children and young people had an open referral to mental health services, and around 417,996 were still waiting for a first contact, with a typical wait of about 328 days for those stuck in the queue. This page shows the size of the backlog, how it varies by area, and the eating disorder standard that most areas miss.", "basis": "These are NHS England Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics, drawn from the Mental Health Services Data Set, for children and young people under 18. An open referral means a child is in the system; the waiting figures count those who have not yet had a first contact. There is no national 18 week treatment standard for children's mental health as there is for physical care.", "sourceNote": "NHS England Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics (MHSDS), Performance April 2026. Children and young people under 18. England, by integrated care board.", "openReferrals": 520488, "stillWaiting": 417996, "medianWait": 328 }, "headline": { "eyebrow": "The national picture", "heading": "Access is rising, but the backlog is deepening", "intro": "About 520,488 children and young people had an open referral to NHS mental health services at the end of April 2026, and roughly 892,559 were seen over the past year, up around 6 per cent. Yet around 417,996 were still waiting for a first contact. For those stuck waiting, the typical wait was about 328 days, close to a year, and the longest waited far longer. More children are being seen, but the queue behind them keeps growing.", "openReferrals": 520488, "stillWaiting": 417996, "medianWait": 328, "access": 892559 }, "waiting": { "eyebrow": "The wait varies hugely", "heading": "From six weeks to nearly two years", "intro": "How long a child waits depends heavily on where they live. Among those still waiting for a first contact, the typical wait runs from 43 days in Essex to 598 days in Hampshire and Isle of Wight, a gap of well over a year. The same referral can mean a few weeks in one area and the best part of two years in another.", "worst": [ { "name": "Hampshire and Isle of Wight", "days": 598 }, { "name": "Cornwall and The Isles of Scilly", "days": 583 }, { "name": "Kent and Medway", "days": 582 }, { "name": "Surrey and Sussex", "days": 534 }, { "name": "Thames Valley", "days": 507 } ], "best": [ { "name": "Essex", "days": 43 }, { "name": "Dorset", "days": 49 }, { "name": "Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire", "days": 57 }, { "name": "West and North London", "days": 95 }, { "name": "Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire", "days": 115 } ], "medianWait": 328, "note": "Median wait in days for children still waiting for a first contact, by integrated care board, April 2026. Counts referrals, not unique children. Source: NHS England." }, "eatingDisorder": { "eyebrow": "A standard mostly missed", "heading": "The eating disorder target, missed nationally", "intro": "The clearest target in children's mental health is for eating disorders: 95 per cent of urgent cases should be seen within a week. Nationally only 78.1 per cent are, short of the standard, and it varies enormously between areas. A few meet the target, but in the worst, Lancashire and South Cumbria, fewer than half of urgent cases, 46 per cent, are seen in time, even though early treatment for an eating disorder can be the difference between recovery and a long illness.", "nationalPct": 78.1, "target": 95, "worst": [ { "name": "Lancashire and South Cumbria", "pct": 46 }, { "name": "Essex", "pct": 52 }, { "name": "Staffordshire and Stoke-On-Trent", "pct": 56 }, { "name": "Birmingham and Solihull", "pct": 59 }, { "name": "Lincolnshire", "pct": 63 }, { "name": "Kent and Medway", "pct": 64 } ], "note": "Share of urgent child eating disorder cases seen within one week, 12 months to April 2026, by integrated care board. The standard is 95 per cent. Source: NHS England." }, "questions": { "eyebrow": "Questions this raises", "heading": "For children's mental health", "items": [ "More children are being seen, yet hundreds of thousands are still waiting and the typical wait is close to a year. Is the service expanding fast enough to match demand?", "A child's wait can be six weeks in one area and nearly two years in another. What explains a gap that large for the same kind of referral?", "Most areas fall short of the eating disorder standard, where early treatment matters most. What would it take to reach it everywhere?", "There is no national treatment time standard for children's mental health as there is for physical care. Would one change how the system is run?" ] }, "sources": [ { "name": "Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics, Performance April 2026 (NHS England)", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "url": "https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-services-monthly-statistics" } ], "caveats": [ "Figures count children and young people under 18 in contact with NHS funded mental health services, from the Mental Health Services Data Set. Waiting figures count referrals, not unique children, so a child referred more than once can appear more than once.", "The median wait shown is for those still waiting for a first contact, which is much longer than the wait for those who have already been seen. The two measures describe different groups.", "A first contact is the start of an assessment, not the start of treatment. There is no national 18 week treatment standard for children's mental health.", "Some areas have figures suppressed where numbers are too small to publish, so the league tables exclude them.", "Figures are for England. The eating disorder standard is an NHS England access and waiting time standard.", "Source: NHS England Mental Health Services Monthly Statistics, April 2026." ] }