Guidance

Senior mental health lead training

Apply for a grant to train a senior mental health lead to develop your school or college's approach to mental health and wellbeing.

From:
Department for Education
Published
2 June 2021
Last updated
5 April 2024 — See all updates

Applies to England

We are offering a grant of £1,200 for eligible state-funded schools and colleges in England to train a senior mental health lead.

This training is not compulsory, but is part of the government’s commitment to offer this training to all eligible schools and colleges by 2025.

Training will support the senior mental health leads to develop and implement a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing. They must start their training by 31 March 2025.

Promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges has guidance on developing an effective approach to mental health and wellbeing.

Eligibility

State-funded schools and colleges in England are eligible to apply for a grant. This includes those in receipt of:

  • Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) pre-16 revenue
  • high needs block
  • 16 to 19 programme funding

You may be able to apply for a second grant if your senior mental health lead left before embedding a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing. See the conditions of grant for more information.

What the training covers

Grants should cover (or contribute to) the cost of attending a quality assured course. You can also use it to hire supply staff while leads are training.

Read the learning outcomes for senior mental health lead training (PDF, 172 KB, 9 pages) to find out more. These align with the principles of promoting children and young people’s emotional health and wellbeing.

Who the training is for

Schools and colleges can decide who is best placed to take on the role of senior mental health lead and undertake the training. Every setting’s circumstances are different.

Identifying your senior mental health lead

Training could be for your:

  • headteacher
  • deputy headteacher
  • member of the senior leadership team (SLT)
  • a member of staff who can develop and oversee your setting’s whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing

If your senior lead is not a member of your SLT, consider whether they have the authority, capacity and support to influence and lead strategic change.

You will need to make sure your senior mental health lead has sufficient time and capacity to:

  • complete the training
  • meet the learning outcomes for the training
  • develop and implement a new approach to mental health and wellbeing

Existing mental health leads

You can use the grant to train existing mental health leads, or someone who has completed other mental health and wellbeing training. Existing mental health leads might wish to:

  • develop or refresh their knowledge and skills in specific priority areas
  • get more advanced training
  • get a relevant qualification

Mental health support teams (MHSTs)

If you are already working with an MHST, your nominated senior lead can also be:

  • your MHST coordinator
  • responsible for liaising with the team
  • a different member of staff

Before you apply

Before you apply for a training grant, check you meet all the criteria set out in the conditions of grant. This includes:

  • committing to develop or implement a whole school or college approach to mental health
  • identifying a senior mental health lead to oversee your whole school or college approach
  • confirming your lead is available to start training by 31 March 2025

Apply for a senior mental health lead training grant

You need to complete all these steps to receive your senior mental health lead training grant.

  1. Complete application form 1 to reserve a grant. This form checks your eligibility. You will need to make a series of declarations as described in the conditions of grant.

  2. You will receive confirmation that we have successfully received your grant registration. This will tell you to book a DfE quality assured training course. The course needs to start by 31 March 2025. Keep evidence of your booking as you will need this when you submit application form 2.

  3. You must submit application form 2 to claim your grant. This form asks you to provide evidence of booking a DfE quality assured course. This can be a scanned copy, screenshot or photograph of your confirmation email or invoice from your training provider.

You will have at least 3 weeks to submit the second form. If you do not submit within 3 weeks by the deadline provided, we may release your place to other applicants on our waitlist to ensure grants do not go unclaimed.

If you are applying for a second grant, make sure you tick the declaration to confirm your previous senior mental health lead has left your setting. We will not pay your grant if you do not confirm this.

Find a senior mental health lead training course

The training course must be a DfE assured senior mental health lead training course (PDF, 599 KB, 29 pages).

Visit Leeds Beckett University’s online tool for choosing a senior mental health lead training course.

The tool allows you to assess your specific learning needs and preferences. You can then select the most suitable quality assured course. Use the contact details for the course provider to book your selected senior mental health lead course.

Training providers interested in providing grant-funded senior mental health lead training to schools and colleges should email mentalhealthqa@leedsbeckett.ac.uk.

Payments

Once you have submitted evidence of your course booking in the second online form, we will review the information provided. We will email you to let you know we have approved your application and confirm when your grant will be paid.

We will make payments on a quarterly basis. When you receive your grant will depend on when you complete application form 2.

Most settings will get their payments on the last working day of:

  • June 2024
  • September 2024
  • December 2024
  • March 2025

Academies will get their payments on the first working day of:

  • July 2024
  • October 2024
  • January 2025
  • April 2025

Maintained schools and maintained alternative provision settings will receive payment via their local authority. All other settings will receive payment directly.

We will make this payment alongside your regular funding. It will appear as a separate line on that remittance.

Published 2 June 2021
Last updated 5 April 2024 + show all updates

  1. Updated information on how to claim a senior mental health lead grant for the financial year 2024 to 2025. Also added an updated version of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  2. Updated the training commencement deadline from 31 March 2024 to 31 July 2024.

  3. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  4. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  5. Information has been added on applying for a second grant.

  6. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  7. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  8. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  9. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  10. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  11. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  12. Updates have been added for the financial year 2023 to 2024.

  13. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  14. Applicants now gain immediate access to the form for the second stage of their application after completing the first stage. Updated the ‘Applying for a grant’ section to reflect this.

  15. Training start date extended from 31 March 2023 to 31 July 2023.

  16. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  17. The list of training courses was updated to remove those no longer quality assured by the Department for Education (DfE).

  18. The list of training courses was updated to remove those no longer quality assured by the Department for Education (DfE).

  19. List of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses has been updated.

  20. List of of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses has been updated, including additional course information relating to the level and delivery mode.

  21. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  22. Added 'DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses: July 2022'.

  23. Added an extra resource to the section 'What the training covers' and clarified eligibility in the section 'Who the training is for'.

  24. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  25. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  26. Updated for the 2022 to 2023 financial year to include revised information about the application process, links to both application forms and additional information about payments.

  27. Added a new date for submitting the second part of the grant application under 'Claiming your grants and payments'.

  28. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  29. Updated for the 2022 to 2023 financial year.

  30. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  31. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  32. Updated to reflect that grants can now be reserved by schools and colleges who want to undertake training in April and May 2022.

  33. Updated the list of DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  34. Updated content to reflect that grants are now available to those on the waiting list in this financial year.

  35. Updated the list of DfE-assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  36. Updated as we have allocated all available grant funding for the 2021 to 2022 financial year.

  37. Updated the list of DfE-assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  38. Added information about how successful applicants need to provide evidence of booking DfE quality assured training to receive the grant funding.

  39. Updated the list of 'DfE assured senior mental health lead training courses' with courses SMHL072 to SMHL084.

  40. Updated 'How do I apply for a grant' section.

  41. Updated the list of DfE-assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  42. Updated with latest information on how to apply for a grant.

  43. Updated list of DfE-assured senior mental health lead training courses.

  44. Updated ‘Who is the training for’ section and added new sections on ‘How do I access DfE quality assured training' and ‘How do I apply for a grant’. Published the list of quality-assured courses, grant terms document and links to a contact details form and an online tool to help select the most suitable course.

  45. Added 'Learning outcomes for senior mental health lead training' document in 'Outcomes' section and a new section 'Actions school and college leaders can take now'.

  46. First published.

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