Post-16 students trail schools in mental health teams rollout

Fewer than half of post-16 students are covered by the government’s mental health support teams, despite ministers claiming they are on track to roll out the service to every school and college by 2029.

New Department for Education data shows 42 per cent of 16 to 18-year-old students are in settings now covered by a mental health support team (MHST), compared to 79 per cent of secondary school pupils and 56 per cent of primary pupils.

MHSTs began rolling out in 2018. They are designed to help young people aged five to 18 with mild to moderate mental health issues stay in education through “evidence-based interventions”, and supply college and school leaders with expert advice on their mental health and wellbeing policies.

The DfE claimed this morning it was “on track to meet its manifesto promise that every school and college will have access to mental health support teams by the end of 2029”.

But today’s figures suggest the rollout is heavily weighted towards secondary schools. Students in every category of post-16 setting, including academies, free schools, specialist colleges and mainstream colleges, were around half as likely to be covered by an MHST than a secondary school pupil in 2025-26.

Ministers are framing the programme as part of efforts to improve attendance and reduce youth disengagement. Today’s announcement said seven in ten schools and colleges with MHSTs reported improved attendance, and pointed to recent official estimates that around one million 16 to 24-year-olds are not in education, employment or training.

The department’s survey of settings already working with MHSTs found 92 per cent agreed the teams had provided beneficial mental health and wellbeing support. The survey was sent to 9,308 schools and colleges and 2,421 replied, achieving a 26 per cent response rate.

The DfE told FE Week that decisions on MHSTs are based on local NHS-led assessments of need and readiness of education settings and local partnerships.

It wasn’t always like this

The gap between pre and post-16 MHST coverage has grown over time.

In the early years of the rollout, college students were covered at broadly the same level as secondary pupils. In 2021-22, some 34 per cent of college learners were in settings supported by an MHST alongside 33 per cent of secondary school pupils.

But by the current academic year, 79 per cent of secondary school pupils were covered, up 46 percentage points in four years, while college student coverage rose by just eight percentage points.

Primary schools also received a much faster expansion than colleges, with pupil coverage increasing from 22 per cent in 2021-22 to 56 per cent now.

Last month, a report from the Association of Colleges (AoC) found that 82 per cent of colleges reported a slight or significant increase in mental health disclosures from students aged 16 to 18 in the last year. The report specifically called for the government’s mental health support teams to be “meaningfully adapted” to post-16 contexts.

Jen Hope, senior policy lead for mental health at the AoC, said: “We would like to see the full rollout across every college, because the number of college students in need of mental health support is significant and our own survey on student mental health showed earlier this year that around half of colleges had support from a mental health support team.

“That’s a great start, but every college needs that support in place as soon as possible. It is good that this service covers colleges as well as schools because in the past, the needs of FE students were not well understood or prioritised, and support is not always at the level we need.”