The government is rolling out mental health support teams into schools and colleges across England, and this evaluation tracks whether that programme actually works. The programme places specialist teams in education settings to provide early intervention for children and young people struggling with their mental health, while also training senior school staff and testing faster access to specialist services. This matters because demand for children’s mental health support far outstrips capacity, and schools are often the first place problems are noticed. The evaluation will compare how different sites implement the programme, what it costs, and what outcomes children and families experience. If successful, the findings could shape how mental health support is delivered in schools nationwide, potentially improving early help for thousands of young people before problems escalate. The research also aims to identify which approaches work best for different groups of children and in different types of schools, helping the NHS and schools spend limited resources more effectively.
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Background The Children and Young People’s (CYP) Mental Health Green Paper Programme is an ambitious implementation programme creating mental health support teams (MHSTs) to provide extra capacity for early intervention and work with school/college staff to promote emotional wellbeing across their setting; funding training to senior mental health leads in schools/colleges to support them in their role; and testing a four-week waiting time for access to specialist mental health services. Aims & Objectives The overall evaluation question is: How is the Programme being implemented at different sites and what are its impacts, user outcomes and costs for different groups of CYP and their families, and different types of education settings and mental health services? The specific objectives are to: 1. Update the Programme’s theory of change as a framework for the evaluation, and identify and/or develop measures to assess Programme impacts and outcomes 2. Understand service models and ways of working and assess the extent of any learning across sites and over time 3. Assess the relationship between Programme workforce, user outcomes and sustainability 4. Compare activity, user experiences, user outcomes and costs between sites and for different CYP sub-groups 5. Explore whether and how the Programme, and MHSTs specifically, are contributing to the development of whole school/college approaches 6. Identify scope for improvement of Programme delivery to improve effectiveness and cost- effectiveness 7. Advise how CYP outcome data beyond the end of the evaluation should be collected and analysed at low cost Methods The evaluation combines routine data analysis, quantitative and qualitative data from the Programme’s first five waves (including 287 MHSTs, working in 4,789 education settings, and covering a total pupil population of 2.44 million) and in-depth learning from six purposively selected Programme sites. It is comprised of 8 work packages (WPs): WPs 1-3: Undertaken across all sites WP1: Initial scoping work to update the Programme theory of change and finalise methods WP2: Key informant and education settings surveys WP3: Analysis of routine data from the Mental Health Services Data Set and the National Pupil Database WPs 4-7: Undertaken in six case study sites WP4: Interviews with individuals in strategic, implementation and delivery roles WP5: Capturing experiences and outcomes of direct support from an MHST WP6: Assessing school-level activities and their effects WP7: Comparative costing and cost-effectiveness analysis WP8: Specification of a method for longer-term monitoring of outcomes beyond the study period Timescale Impact & Dissemination We will work with our CYP, parent/carer and strategic advisory groups, and collaborators the National Children’s Bureau, to translate the study findings into accessible, usable and high-impact learning for practice. Formative feedback will be provided to those involved in Programme implementation at all levels to support rollout. Dissemination activities will also include: an animated output co-produced with CYP; a consensus event exploring the implications of the findings for decision-makers; infographics, social media, podcasts and blogs; publication in peer reviewed and professional journals; and presentations at conferences, seminars, workshops and meetings.
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