Young people in the most deprived areas of the country are less likely to receive the mental health support they need than their peers, a report suggests.
A quarter of Year 13 students had sought some mental health support over the past year but many were struggling to access services, according to the Cosmo (Covid Social Mobility and Opportunities) study.
Among the students who sought mental health support, more than a third (35%) said they had yet to receive it or were on a waiting list, according to the study by the UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies, and the Sutton Trust.
Nearly two in five (39%) young people in the poorest parts of England said they were still waiting or had not received the support they applied for, compared to 28% of those in the most affluent areas.
The study has been tracking the lives of a cohort of thousands of young people in England who took A-level exams and equivalent qualifications this summer. More than 11,000 students in Year 13 (aged between 17 and 18) were surveyed between October 2022 and February 2023 as part of the research.
