40% of mental health trusts have seen their incomes fall

“Analysis by the King’s Fund suggests that 40% of our mental health trusts had their budgets cut last year”

Jeremy Corbyn, 19 October 2016

Budget reductions for 40% of mental health trusts were reported by the King’s Fund, a health think tank, on 14 October.

It looked at the annual accounts of all 58 mental health trusts in England, which deliver around 80% of mental health care.

“40% of trusts have in fact seen reductions to their income” in 2015/16, according to that analysis, which is in line with other research from the past year.

NHS leaders are keen to stress that the money spent on mental health trusts doesn’t cover all spending on mental health. Some mental health services are provided by other organisations.

They also point out that almost 90% of Clinical Commissioning Groups said they planned to increase their spending. These are the organisations that actually purchase the majority of mental health services.

The King’s Fund has responded that “mental health trusts provide a large proportion [about 80%] of mental health care” and that there’s “little evidence that demand for these services has fallen”. So it “seems likely” that many CCGs are spending less than planned on mental health.

If money supposedly going into mental health care isn’t all showing up on the books of the people who provide it, some of it must be being spent on something else. One of the possible candidates is “deficits among NHS providers”.