Open call for evidence

Informing the mental health strategy for England: call for evidence document

Published 15 May 2026

Applies to England

Background

This call for evidence will inform the development and implementation of a new cross-government mental health strategy for England.

Good mental health and wellbeing is central to our ability to participate fully in education, work and community life. Yet far too many people are experiencing mental health problems and are struggling to access the right support when they need it. This is especially the case for autistic people and people with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), who often experience challenges in accessing support that is responsive to their needs.

The 10 Year Health Plan for England set a bold ambition to reform the NHS through 3 shifts, from:

• hospital to community
• analogue to digital
• sickness to prevention

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) appreciates all the contributions from the public, the mental health sector, and experts by experience to the 10 Year Health Plan national engagement exercise. Through this engagement, we heard the need for a stronger focus on:

• earlier intervention, including by expanding mental health support teams (MHSTs) in schools and colleges - we are now rolling out MHSTs to reach 100% national coverage by 2029
• mental health funding and workforce planning - for the 2026 to 2027 financial year, NHS mental health spending is forecast to increase to a record £16.1 billion, and we’ve hired an extra 8,500 mental health workers since July 2024
• safe and recovery-oriented inpatient mental health care - we have taken forward landmark reform of the Mental Health Act to:
  • ensure that people with severe and enduring mental illness get better, more personalised care and have greater choice and control over their treatment
  • limit the scope to detain people with a learning disability and autistic people unless they have a co-occurring mental disorder that requires hospital treatment
• waiting times, especially for children and young people and for adults with severe and enduring mental illness - the NHS England Medium Term Planning Framework sets a target for all local mental health systems to reduce the longest waits for children’s and young people’s community mental health services by:
  • improving productivity
  • reducing local inequalities
  • reducing unwarranted variation in access
• prevention and improved community-based support, working across sectors like housing, social care and education - mental health is a cross-government issue and that’s why promoting good mental health and supporting effective early intervention is a core part of the:
  • youth matters: your national youth strategy
  • national plan to end homelessness
  • growing up in the online world: a national consultation
  • suicide prevention strategy for England
  • every child achieving and thriving policy on reforms to the schools and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) systems in England
  • freedom from violence and abuse strategy: cross-government strategy, including Steps to Safety and the expansion of the Child House model
• effective and neuroinclusive digital models of care to complement existing support offers - anyone can now self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies on the NHS App, and we are working to further improve access to approved digital therapies from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
• inequalities and support for marginalised and vulnerable groups, including neurodivergent people, people who identify as LGBT+, care experienced people and people from ethnic minority communities - the Patient and carer race equality framework (PCREF) is mandatory for all NHS mental health trusts and providers, and NHS England has launched a culture change programme across all mental health, learning disability and autism inpatient services, focusing on culturally competent, trauma informed and autism informed care

The cross-government mental health strategy is the next stage in the 10 Year Health Plan programme of reform. In addition to the evidence collected in this call for evidence, the mental health strategy will be informed by the independent review into prevalence and support for mental health conditions, ADHD and autism.

This review, chaired by Professor Peter Fonagy, will make recommendations on how we can shift from a mental health system that responds late and through diagnosis, to one that responds earlier, more proportionately and with improving participation in education and work in mind.

Fundamental questions about prevalence and diagnosis are rightly being addressed by the review, along with consideration of how we can:

• better match support to need
• support people to stay well
• understand when clinical interventions are needed and when other forms of support might be more effective

This call for evidence is therefore seeking practical examples and implementation evidence to:

• inform a new strategic approach to mental health
• implement improvements in outcomes across the life course

We expect respondents to include those who have direct experience of service provision, such as:

• academics
• clinicians
• commissioners
• advocacy groups

We will engage people with lived experience in depth to ensure their voices are reflected in the strategy.

We are seeking examples of good practice, from across the UK and internationally, and from across sectors, including:

• mental health and wider health services
• local government
• education and training settings
• workplaces
• community settings

We welcome feedback on how we can better maximise the impact of our existing policies, such as mental health support teams and community-based mental health services. We also welcome consideration of the main factors that are needed for delivering services, such as workforce.

The mental health needs of autistic people and people with ADHD will also be reflected within the mental health strategy. We know that autistic people and people with ADHD face a much higher risk of developing mental ill health, alongside other groups. There is also a need for integrated and equitable access to mental health services and support that is responsive to their needs, including appropriate adjustments to how services are designed and delivered.

Separately, we will develop and publish a new cross-government autism strategy, as required under the Autism Act 2009. This will be informed by all relevant evidence, reviews and reports. This includes the recommendations from the House of Lords Autism Act 2009 Committee report and the ongoing independent review into prevalence and support for mental health conditions, ADHD and autism. As part of this work, we will consider and seek the views of stakeholders as to whether the new autism strategy should be extended to cover ADHD.

How to respond

Please respond using the online survey.

Do not provide personal data when responding to free-text survey questions. Any personal data included will be removed prior to analysis of these responses.

The call for evidence is open for 8 weeks and will close at 11:59pm on 10 July 2026. If you respond after this date, your response may not be considered.

Call for evidence questions

About you

In what capacity are you responding to this survey?

• On behalf of an organisation (in an official capacity representing the views of that organisation)
• An individual sharing my professional views
• An individual sharing my personal views and experiences

Questions for individuals sharing their professional views and people responding on behalf of an organisation

If you are responding as an individual sharing your professional views, what is the name of the organisation you work for? (Optional)

If you are responding on behalf of an organisation, what is the name of your organisation?

What sector do you (or does your organisation) work in?

• Public sector
• Private sector
• Not for profit
• Other, please specify

What are the main areas of focus of your (or your organisation’s) work? Please select up to 3 areas.

• Academic
• Advocacy
• Education
• Emergency services
• Healthcare - mental health
• Healthcare - wider healthcare (not mental health)
• Hospitality
• Housing
• Justice system
• Learning disabilities and services for people with autism
• Legal
• Local government
• National government
• Social care
• Sport
• Other, please specify

Please provide more detail on the type of organisation you work for. (Optional, maximum 50 words)

Which area or areas of England do you work (or does your organisation operate) in? Select all that apply.

• North East England
• North West England
• Yorkshire and the Humber
• East of England
• East Midlands
• West Midlands
• London
• South East England
• South West England
• I do not work (or my organisation does not operate) in England

What is the first part of your workplace address (or organisation’s main) postcode? For example, PO1. Please do not enter the full postcode. (Optional)

Hospital to community

Effective partnership working at a community level is essential for the provision of person-centred care. These partnerships address the broad range of factors which can influence a person’s mental health recovery, such as:

• physical health
• employment
• housing
• addiction
• social care

We are piloting 6 community-based mental health centres across England to understand how services can better work together at a local level to improve people’s outcomes. We would like to hear practical insights that support wider transformation of mental health care in communities.

We welcome practical examples and evidence on how mental health services can work more effectively across:

• the wider NHS, including new neighbourhood health centres
• services to support people with co-occurring mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions
• different sectors, including education, employers, local authorities and the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector

How can mental health services work more effectively across these areas? Please provide examples of cross-sector pathways in practice. (Optional, maximum 300 words)

We welcome views or evidence on what further support, in addition to NHS services, should be provided for people with severe and enduring mental illness to:

• help them stay well
• maintain participation in education, work and community life
• avoid crisis and/or hospital admission
• reduce length of stay in inpatient units

What further support should be provided for people with severe and enduring mental illness? (Optional, maximum 300 words)

What are the main barriers to continuity of care across transitions between hospital and community services, and between different levels of care, including child to adult services?

Please provide examples from either side of the transition and outline how these barriers could be effectively addressed. (Optional, maximum 300 words)

Analogue to digital

It’s important that children and adults can benefit from the opportunities that digital technology can offer to boost mental health and wellbeing. However, this must be balanced with safety and protection from risks to mental health. We understand that many people would like:

• more personalised, tailored mental health support available digitally
• digital tools to be neuroinclusive (accessible and effective for people with neurodevelopmental conditions)

A 2025 report from Mental Health UK stated that people are also increasingly turning to AI chatbots for mental health advice.

We welcome evidence and innovative examples of how digital and AI tools can be safely used for adults and children to:

• improve mental health and wider societal outcomes
• support access to effective mental health support
• complement relational care

What evidence and innovative examples are there of digital and AI tools being used to achieve these outcomes? Please provide examples. (Optional, maximum 300 words)

How can data be used more innovatively to improve mental health and wider societal outcomes? Please provide examples. (Optional, maximum 300 words)

Sickness to prevention

The incidence and severity of mental health conditions has risen in recent decades, with young adults in particular now reporting substantially poorer mental health. Data from NHS England’s Survey of mental health and wellbeing, England 2023 to 2024 stated that 25.8% of young people are estimated to have a common mental health condition, up from 17.5% in 2007.

Many of the solutions to mental health problems involve education, employment, housing and participation in community life. Therefore, if prevention is to be effective, we need to think beyond the realms of clinical care and across the life course.

We are especially interested in how we can identify distress earlier and support people to maintain participation in education and work. Preventative approaches include:

• primary prevention - stopping mental health problems before they start
• secondary prevention - supporting those at higher risk of experiencing mental health problems
• tertiary prevention - helping people living with mental health problems to stay well

We encourage examples of good practice within and beyond the health system, including in work and education settings where people with a co-occurring mental health and neurodevelopmental condition may particularly benefit.

Which preventative approaches have the strongest evidence for reducing incidence or severity of mental health problems and promoting good mental health? (Optional, maximum 300 words)

Which preventative approaches have the strongest evidence for reducing the numbers of lives lost to suicide? (Optional, maximum 300 words)

How can services better support the ‘missing middle’ - those with sustained needs (that affect their participation in community life, for example, in education or work) who may not meet the criteria for NHS mental health services? Please provide examples. (Optional, maximum 300 words)

Factors enabling good practice

Too often, we hear that services are hindered by administrative barriers that prevent innovative, integrated and person-centred care. We are interested in the underlying enablers of good practice around the country, and the role national government can play in creating the conditions for reformed models of mental health support. We are particularly interested to understand how access can be improved, for example through therapeutic support for certain groups such as women and girls subject to violence and/or child sexual abuse.

What commissioning, funding and oversight or accountability arrangements (nationally and locally) best support safe and integrated mental health services that improve outcomes across mental health, participation in work, education and community life, and social functioning? Please provide examples. (Optional, maximum 300 words)

Your local mental health strategy or delivery plan

This section is only for people responding on behalf of an organisation.

If you’re answering on behalf of a mental health trust, integrated care board or local authority, please provide your local mental health strategy and/or delivery plan so we can learn from your work.

You’ll be able to upload your strategy or plan as a file. If it’s available online, you’ll be able to provide a link to it instead.

Privacy notice

Data controller

DHSC is the data controller for data you provide through our online form (hosted by a company we work with called SocialOptic) for collecting discussion responses.

What personal data we collect

At the beginning of the survey, we will ask whether you are responding as an individual or an organisation. If you are responding on behalf of an organisation or as an individual sharing your professional views, we will also ask for the:

• name of the organisation you are responding on behalf of (or work for)
• sector you work in
• main focus of your work
• region or regions where you work or your organisation works
• first part of your workplace address or organisation’s main postcode (if you do not wish to provide this, please leave this blank)

We will also ask for your email address. This is so we can contact you if needed. If you do not wish to provide your email address, please leave this blank.

We will also be asking open questions with free text answer boxes. Please do not include any information that could directly identify you in these boxes. If we receive any responses which include information that we think may directly identify you, we will seek to remove this information.

How we use your data (purposes)

We ask for this information so that we can provide better services to the public. In this instance, we will use the data to inform the development of the mental health strategy. All data will be anonymised in the strategy which means that nobody who provides a response to this survey will be identifiable from the information we publish.

Legal basis for processing personal data

Under data protection law, we need to tell you what our legal basis is for processing the data you are providing to us.

Our legal basis is the performance of a task in the public interest, or in the exercise of our official authority. As a government department, it is part of our statutory functions to consult with the public and stakeholders when developing policies and strategies.

Data processors and other recipients of personal data

The consultation is hosted through an online platform owned by SocialOptic, which is a contracted supplier of DHSC. SocialOptic will delete any personal data in line with the retention and disposal periods outlined below, or earlier if instructed to do so by DHSC.

We will only share anonymised data with other government departments where we need their help with analysing the responses. You will not be identifiable from this data.

We do not sell data to anyone else, nor do we provide it for companies to use for marketing or advertising purposes.

We would only share personal data with any other organisation if we are required to do so by law.

International data transfers and storage locations

Storage of data by SocialOptic is provided through secure servers located in the UK. Personal data received will be stored in the UK by DHSC. At DHSC, we have security procedures in place to make sure your information is safe and to make sure it doesn’t get lost or accessed by anyone who doesn’t need to see it.

Retention and disposal policy

Your data will be held by DHSC for 2 years from the closure of the call for evidence. This will allow us to use the data to improve the services we provide and after 2 years we will safely delete it.

SocialOptic will securely erase the data held on its system one year after the online survey closes, or when instructed to do so by DHSC if the data has served its intended purpose (whichever happens earlier).

How we keep your data secure

Both DHSC and SocialOptic have security procedures in place to make sure your information is safe and to make sure it doesn’t get lost or accessed by anyone who doesn’t need to see it.

This includes only allowing authorised persons access to your data using methods like password protection, encryption and making sure that the servers we use are secure.

Your rights as a data subject

By law, data subjects have a number of rights, and this processing does not take away or reduce these rights under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679) and the UK Data Protection Act 2018 applies.

These rights are:

• the right to get copies of information - individuals have the right to ask for a copy of any information about them that is used
• the right to get information corrected - individuals have the right to ask for any information held about them that they think is inaccurate, to be corrected
• the right to limit how the information is used - individuals have the right to ask for any of the information held about them to be restricted - for example, if they think inaccurate information is being used
• the right to object to the information being used - individuals can ask for any information held about them to not be used. However, this is not an absolute right, and continued use of the information may be necessary, with individuals being advised if this is the case
• the right to get information deleted - this is not an absolute right, and continued use of the information may be necessary, with individuals being advised if this is the case

Comments or complaints

Anyone unhappy or wishing to complain about how personal data is used as part of this call for evidence should contact data_protection@dhsc.gov.uk in the first instance or write to:

Data Protection Officer
1st Floor North
39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU

Anyone who is still not satisfied can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Their postal address is:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Automated decision making or profiling

No decision will be made about individuals solely based on automated decision making (where a decision is taken about them using an electronic system without human involvement) which has a significant impact on them.

Changes to this policy

We keep this privacy notice under regular review, and we will update it if necessary. All updated versions will be marked by a change note on the call for evidence page. This privacy notice was last updated on 15 May 2026.