The Scottish government is to inject £15m of new funding into child and adolescent mental health, the bulk of it targeted on services to support children struggling emotionally having returned to school under strict new restrictions.

Ministers say the money, to be distributed amongst Scotland’s local authorities, will be made available every year for investment in community mental health and wellbeing services focusing on prevention, early intervention and treatment of distress in children and young people aged from five to 24, their families and carers.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman says children are having to deal with constant change in their own lives compounded by worry, uncertainty, and anxiety about their families:

“For children and young people, the impact has been particularly acute – from the isolation of lockdown, missing your friends and worrying about school lessons, to the stresses of restarting school and the necessary limitations on your daily life and that of your family.

“Sadly we know that this has exacerbated the mental health struggles for many young people and has also created new struggles from many more.

“For that reason, we are determined to improve and expand mental health support for children and young people across the country.”

Ms Freeman used today’s daily government briefing to publicise the support available for children and young people already, pointing to the Young Scot Aye Feel pages.

The government’s announcement comes as 30 local authorities in Scotland reveal that over 8,500 school pupils were absent from the classroom for more than half of the 2018-19 school year.

The numbers were published, following freedom of information requests, by the Commission on School Reform, an independent group of educationalists set up by the think tank Reform Scotland and published in its latest report, Scotland’s lost pupils.

The group says these numbers were a substantial increase on the previous year, and it believes pupils struggling to access help for underlying mental health issues resulted in a “great deal of missed time”.

In its report, the organisation says it expects the pre-covid problem identified in the statistics to have got worse during the pandemic.

Amongst its recommendations, beyond reducing waiting times for CAMHS, the report calls for stopgap measures to allow schools to provide parents and pupils with support ahead of any formal diagnosis.

Supporters – If you can help support our reporting for Scotland's health and social care community, please head to our donations page.

Bulletin – Sign up for all the latest news and events.