Staffordshire, UK – Staffordshire County Council, in collaboration with the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board (ICB), is preparing to commission a new service dedicated to the emotional health and wellbeing of children and young people. This initiative aims to ensure the continuation and enhancement of mental health support for this demographic.
The county council’s cabinet will soon review options for recommissioning the service, which caters to children and young people aged 5 to 18 years old, extending up to 25 years for those with care needs or disabilities. This service emphasizes prevention and early intervention, working closely with families and communities to promote and maintain good mental health.
In the 2023/24 period, the current service supported nearly 13,000 children and young people. Should the proposal be approved, a tender process will commence, with the new service set to launch on April 1, 2025. The initial contract will span two years, with an option to extend for an additional two years.
Over the next three to five years, it is estimated that approximately 15% of children and young people will require new or additional mental health support. For Staffordshire, this translates to around 21,315 individuals aged 5-19 needing such services.
Councillor Mark Sutton, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, highlighted the importance of this initiative:
“Every Staffordshire child and young person deserves to have the best start in life and the chance to achieve their potential. A child’s emotional health and wellbeing significantly influences their development, learning, physical and social health, and mental wellbeing into adulthood.
“Our current emotional health and wellbeing service—jointly commissioned with the ICB—is working well. With the contract coming to an end, we need to commission a new service that takes learning from what we currently have and makes changes for the better. This way, we can more comprehensively address the needs of some of our most vulnerable children and young people.”
The cabinet will discuss the proposed options on July 17, aiming to build on the existing framework and address emerging mental health needs more effectively. This planned recommissioning underscores the council’s commitment to improving mental health outcomes for children and young people in Staffordshire.
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