The number of children in England needing treatment for serious mental health problems has risen by 39% in a year, official data shows.
Experts say the pandemic, social inequality, austerity and online harm are all fuelling a crisis in which NHS mental health treatment referrals for under-18s have increased to more than 1.1m in 2021-22.
In 2020-21 – the first year of the pandemic – the figure was 839,570, while in 2019-20 there were 850,741 referrals, according to analysis of official figures by the PA Media.
The figures include children who are suicidal, self-harming, suffering serious depression or anxiety, and those with eating disorders.
Full story in the Guardian, 3 January 2023