The mental health share of NHS spend fell from 9% in 2023/24 to 8.78% in 2024/25 and Streeting said this would fall again by 0.7% to 8.71% in 2025/26.

The secretary of state said the slight drop in percentage spend in 2025/26 was ‘because of significant investment in other areas of healthcare', including such as investment to improve general practice that would have secondary benefits for mental health care.

	2024-25	2025-26
Recurrent NHS baseline (£billion)	170.2	179.4
Total forecast mental health spend (£billion)	14.9	15.6
Mental health share of recurrent baseline (%)	8.78	8.71

 

Reaction

Liberal Democrat Mental Health spokesperson Danny Chambers accused Labour of ‘backpedalling at the worst possible time—when millions desperately need mental health support'.

Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive, NHS Providers, said: ‘It's deeply disappointing that the share of NHS spending on mental health is set to fall next year at a time of soaring demand for services.'

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘This Government is increasing investment in mental health care by an extra £320m in real terms, meeting the Mental Health Investment Standard.

‘This includes funding to recruit 8,500 staff across mental health services, expanding mental health support in schools and investing in new mental health crisis centres – helping deliver our Plan for Change to ensure everyone can access to the care they need.'