More than £1.25 billion will be spent on mental health services for children and new mothers, Chancellor George Osborne announced in his budget.
The bulk of this will go on improving access to mental health services for youngsters, which will see more than 110,000 more children cared
for over the next five years, he said.
Young people often develop mental health problems as a consequence of maternal mental illness, and so £75 million will be spent on improving care for women who experience mental ill health during the perinatal or antenatal period.
Pilots on training in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and schools to improve access to mental health services for children and young people will receive a £1.5 million boost, the Chancellor said.
Other measures include providing online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to 40,000 people who claim Employment and Support
Allowance due to illness or disability, are on Jobseeker’s Allowance or are being supported by the Fit for Work scheme.
Mr Osborne said the government will also begin putting therapists in more than 350 JobCentres from this summer to provide support to those with common mental health conditions.
An additional £8.4 million will be spent on improving mental health services for the most vulnerable veterans in the community.