Policy Solutions

Civil society organisations are pooling their data and commissioning joint policy analysis to build a political case for increased mental health investment in the UK. This matters because mental health policy in the UK often lacks the real-time, granular evidence needed to persuade politicians to act. Waiting lists, early intervention gaps, and links to economic activity are poorly tracked, and individual charities lack the resources to produce compelling national-level analysis on their own. The grant fills this gap by creating a shared data hub that draws on unique information held by multiple civil society organisations, and by funding coordinated, reactive policy analysis that can respond quickly to the current political context. If this succeeds, the sector will be able to target MPs, ministers, and No10 with a more nuanced, data-driven picture of the mental health landscape. This could shift government priorities toward early intervention, reduce waiting times, and make the economic case for mental health investment more concrete. The project is explicitly applied and political—it aims to change policy, not to generate fundamental scientific knowledge.