The economic case for early support
The Children’s Society has long called for young people to get the right support at the right time when they start to struggle. We commissioned PBE to investigate the economic costs and benefits of providing young people with early support for their wellbeing and mental health.
Mental wellbeing
A gap in support
Young people routinely walk into our open access wellbeing services saying they wish they had got help sooner. We knew a gap in support existed, but until now we didn’t know just how big it was, or the cost of addressing it.
PBE's report, ‘Prevention that pays: The economic case for early support for young people’s mental health and wellbeing,’ laid bare the scale of the gap.
Report findings
The findings of the report, shaped by the thoughtful contributions of a passionate Youth Panel, make a clear economic and moral case for investment in early support.
They show that for every £1 spent on expanding early mental health support to meet children and young people’s needs, society and the public purse could gain £14 in economic benefits. This is considered a very high return, according to the Governments’ own framework.
report findings
2/3
of young people aged 10-17 did not receive appropriate support for their mental health needs in 2023
740,000
young people are starting to struggle but have no support
report findings continued
The report also showed that out of young people who had started to struggle in 2022, the majority had deteriorated further one year later. This is why intervening early is essential.
I’m really shocked at the gaps – more needs to be done.
- Youth Panel member
At what cost?
Addressing this need does have a cost, which PBE estimate at around £4.1 billion. But the pay-off is huge - an estimated total of £56 billion in economic benefits:
- £39bn in improved wellbeing benefits for both young people and their parents, based on valuing improvements in quality of life.
- £15bn through increased lifetime earnings of young people accessing education and employment.
- More than £1bn from 5,000 parents being able to return to work and from those already in work being more productive, thanks to their children’s wellbeing and mental health being better supported.
- We would also see savings to public services, including reduced costs for the NHS and education system – to the tune of over £300m.
Parents can actually find some peace and know their children are being looked after properly.
- Youth Panel member
Crucially, the research also shows that the earlier the support is offered, the higher the potential return on investment, making investment in early support a no brainer.
Any good government would agree to this…it’s economically beneficial…anyone would say ‘yes’.
- Youth Panel member
Funding needed
Unfortunately, the funding required to keep pace with the scale of need has led to the challenge getting larger each year. To return young people’s mental health and wellbeing back to pre-pandemic levels is now a colossal effort.
By providing appropriate early support, PBE estimate that one third of this deterioration in young people’s mental health can be reversed. But that still leaves two thirds to be addressed.
To completely return to pre-pandemic levels of wellbeing and mental health, wider change needs to happen alongside re-investing in direct support.
The need for change
Our Good Childhood Report set out some of the ways young people told us society needs to change to support their wellbeing – including having access to more trusted adults who are trained to recognise and respond to mental health needs and implementing whole-school approaches to wellbeing.
Our CEO, Mark Russell OBE had this reaction to the report:
“For too long, young people have been left to navigate an increasingly changing world with a support system that hasn’t kept up. These gaps in support cannot become the norm. And it doesn’t make sense – neither for the young people being let down; our public purse; or the general progress of society. This issue cannot be ignored any more, not only does this support gap need to be urgently filled, it needs to come alongside wider systems change at the very core of our society.”
We know it’s no quick fix, and long-term societal change is surely needed, but this research puts a financial value to what The Children’s Society have always believed: investing in early support, that is readily available when young people start to struggle, is a crucial way to avoid teenagers unnecessarily escalating into mental health crisis.
That’s why we took this research straight to the doors of Government, launching the findings at an event in Parliament, hosted by Helen Hayes MP.
We join the Youth Panel in calling for cross-governmental commitment and financial investment to redress this urgent need. Making this investment now makes good sense for the public purse and for the health and happiness of the country’s young people.
