Five priorities for fixing community mental health services

In our latest blog, our External Affairs Officer, Florence, reflects on the recent Health and Social Care Committee report into Community Mental Health Services and highlights the five most pressing areas for change.

Community mental health services are under enormous pressure: people are waiting too long for care, staff are overstretched, and outcomes remain deeply unequal. It is against this backdrop that the Health and Social Care Committee recently concluded its inquiry into these services.

We were pleased to submit evidence and give oral testimony to the committee, and we welcome its clear endorsement of many of the issues we raised, particularly the need for better recognition of mental health social workers within mental health services and the upcoming 10-Year Workforce Plan.

The Community Mental Health Framework, published in 2019, set out a plan to modernise services and bring care closer to where people live- within their communities. Its aims included making support easier to access, more coordinated, and more responsive to people’s everyday lives.

The inquiry made it clear: the current framework sets out the right direction of travel, but delivery will continue to fall short unless the government acts on several critical, well-evidenced recommendations. This includes supporting a workforce that, despite its hard work and dedication, has been hindered by a system lacking both the resources and infrastructure needed to meet rising demand.

Think Ahead is focused on providing workforce solutions within mental health services, and the committee’s recommendations reflect issues that we have long emphasised. The following five stand out as particularly important:

1. Support and retain the workforce

The workforce is the single most important enabler of effective community mental health services, and the greatest risk to their sustainability. High turnover, limited career progression, and a lack of recognition for key roles, including mental health social workers, continue to undermine joined-up care. Fragmented workforce plans make matters worse, leaving no single, cross-system plan covering all roles, including those in local authorities and the voluntary sector. Urgent action is needed to reduce burnout, improve caseloads, guarantee regular supervision, and strengthen pay and career progression. Without a stable and supported workforce, even the strongest reforms will fail.

2. Make integration real through section 75s

Integration remains more aspiration than reality. Separate workforce plans, funding streams and accountability structures across the NHS and social care services hinder joined-up care. Expanding section 75 agreements, which allow NHS bodies and local authorities to pool budgets and jointly commission services, can help. Clearer governance, simpler processes, and wider use across services like housing and education are essential to ensure funding genuinely follows need.

3. Recognise social determinants in care

Mental health outcomes are shaped as much by social conditions as by clinical care. Poverty, housing insecurity, unemployment, and discrimination increase the risk and severity of mental ill-health. All staff, including clinical staff, nurses, psychiatrists, and support workers, working in mental health services should have a solid understanding of these wider social factors and their impact on people’s lives. Embedding this knowledge across the workforce strengthens care, improves collaboration across different services, and ensures support reflects people’s real experiences.

4. Protect and strengthen mental health funding

The mental health investment standard was designed to prevent mental health from being deprioritised by requiring spending to grow in line with overall NHS funding. Its redefinition, now tying growth only to inflation, represents a significant weakening of that protection. This comes at a time when mental health accounts for around 20% of overall ill health, yet receives less than 10% of NHS spending. Mental health’s share of spending has already begun to fall, and without stronger protections, there is a real risk that community mental health services will continue to lose out to competing pressures elsewhere in the system. Mental health funding protections must be strengthened, not diluted.

5. Recognise the role of mental health social workers

Workforce shortages and retention issues are acute. High turnover, limited career progression, and poor recognition of key roles—particularly mental health social workers—compromise continuity of care and integration. The 10 Year Workforce Plan must deliver for the mental health workforce and we recommend every person with a severe mental illness have access to a named mental health social worker” 

Health and Social Care Committee (2025) Community Mental Health Services (2024-26, HC5CC) Summary

Every person with a severe mental illness should have access to a named mental health social worker, and these roles should be formally included in the 10-Year Workforce Plan. Mental health social workers are essential to delivering joined-up care, coordinating support across health, social care, and local services, and addressing the social determinants of health. Ensuring these roles are properly supported, resourced, and expanded is critical for effective community mental health services.

From frameworks to action

At the moment, it can feel as though there are constant announcements: new frameworks, new pilots, new initiatives. What matters now is turning evidence and recommendations into action. The Committee’s findings provide a clear, evidence-based route forward – identifying where reform is working, where gaps remain, and what must be prioritised to ensure that community mental health services are equipped to meet people’s real needs.