Key Policy Documents
Welcome to the key policy documents page supporting workforce programme projects. This section provides essential resources designed to guide and inform the successful delivery of workforce initiatives.
Here, you’ll find policies, frameworks, and guidance that underpin best practices and ensure compliance with legal, ethical, and operational standards. Whether you’re involved in project planning, execution, or evaluation, these documents serve as a foundation to align efforts, foster collaboration, and drive impactful outcomes.
Adult and Older People’s Mental Health
The NHS Long Term Plan NHS Long Term Plan v1.2 August 2019
In line with the NHS Long Term Plan, adult mental health services are undergoing notable transformation to increase both the scale and scope of services to better meeting the increasing demand for mental health care.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan NHS Long Term Workforce Plan
[…] the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan has stated that there are real shortages within mental health nursing, which are already causing ‘particular concern’. Mental health nursing is estimated in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan to have a deficit of around 15,800 FTE by 2036/37, with vacancy rates and training needing to be examined within the role.
The plan also aims to ‘Grow the number and proportion of NHS staff working in mental health, primary and community care to enable the service ambition to deliver more preventative and proactive care across the NHS’, with targets for growth within these roles aiming for a 73% rise by 2036/37. Training and levels of mental health nursing are highlighted as concerns in the Long Term Workforce Plan. Initially, mental health registered nurse training places will be increasing 38% by 2028/29, with further targets and ambitions of growing these training places by a further 93% by 2031/32 (which is more than 11,000 places).
One expectation set out by the plan, is for all adult mental health services to remove any pre-existing upper age barriers to access that they may have, allowing for greater numbers of adults and older people to get the care they need.
Children and Young People’s Mental Health
The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health
One in nine children have a diagnosable mental health problem by age of 14, and by age of 14 half of all mental health problems are established, rising to 75% by age of 24.
Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2022 – wave 3 follow up to the 2017 survey Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2022 - wave 3 follow up to the 2017 survey - NHS England Digital
The rise in mental health disorders has impacted on demand for children and young people’s mental health services (CYPMHS), with sustained growth in referral rates over the last decade equating to 109% increase in annual referral rates between 2013/14 and 2023/24.
The NHS Long Term Plan NHS Long Term Plan v1.2 August 2019
To address growing demand, the NHS Long Term Plan (LTP) committed to expanding mental health services for children and young people with the rate of growth in funding exceeding both overall NHS funding and total mental health spending. The growth in the CYP workforce over the last decade can be linked to the increased investment committed in both the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health (2016) and the NHS Long Term Plan (2019).
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan NHS Long Term Workforce Plan
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) renews and strengthens the commitment to grow and transform the healthcare workforce and highlights a commitment to invest £2.4 billion to fund the expansion of training places by 27% by 2028/29. By 2031 the ambition is to increase training places for clinical psychology and child and adolescent psychotherapy by 26%.
Progress in improving NHS mental health services report Progress in improving NHS mental health services - Committee of Public Accounts
In the parliament Committee of Public Accounts published a report in July 2023 titled ‘Progress on improving mental health services’. The CYPMHS workforce census provides critical evidence to address two of the six areas raised in this report: 1) workforce shortages constraining the improvement and expansion of NHS mental health services; and 2) data and information for mental health services lagging behind physical health services.
Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services
The national drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services workforce report presents the most comprehensive workforce data on the drug and alcohol service delivery and commissioning workforce. It will inform the continued development of the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce transformation programme1 and future workforce training needs.
Learning Disabilities and Autism
Coming soon….
NHS Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression
Services are delivered using a stepped-care model, which works according to the principle that people should be offered the least intrusive intervention appropriate for their needs first. People with some presentations of mild to moderate depression or anxiety disorders are likely to benefit from a course of low intensity treatment delivered by a psychological wellbeing practitioner (PWP). Individuals who do not fully recover at this level should be stepped up to a course of high intensity treatment. Further details about NHS Talking Therapies services can be found in the manual
The Talking Therapies Manual NHS England » NHS Talking Therapies for anxiety and depression manual
Guidance suggests working towards a model where 40% of the workforce in a core NHS Talking Therapies service should be Psychological wellbeing practitioners (PWPs) and 60% high intensity therapists (HITs). For NHS Talking Therapies- long term conditions services (LTCs) it is recommended that there is a slightly stronger focus on high intensity interventions with the workforce being 30% PWPs, 60% high intensity therapists and 10% senior therapists (such as clinical health psychologists) who have expertise in Long Term Conditions / Persistent Physical Symptoms and can manage more complex problems as well as providing supervision to others. All current NHS Talking Therapies curricula and training materials can be found in the link.
Talking Therapies section of the NHS E website NHS England » NHS Talking Therapies, for anxiety and depression
The programme has steadily grown so that more than 670,000 people completed a course of treatment in 2023/24 . The continued success will only be possible if systems and services continue to track progress and plan for expanding the workforce to support the targets laid out in the NHS Long Term Plan and the subsequent 2023 Autumn Statement.
The long term workforce plan NHS Long Term Workforce Plan
There has been a sustained focus on improving the provision of mental health care for all ages. A key lever to delivering transformation objectives relates to how services are delivered, with a greater emphasis on collaborative delivery across statutory and non-statutory services, and across health and care services. While this is an opportunity to create provision and delivery of services in innovative ways to meet increasing and changing needs, it creates a challenge for understanding the wider workforce outside of NHS statutory services. In 2022, roughly 1 in 6 adults aged 16 years and over reported moderate to severe depressive symptoms.
The Five year forward view for mental health The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health
Peer Support Workers
The Mental Health Implementation Plan set out key targets for workforce growth, including within:
Perinatal Mental Health
Severe Mental Illness
Problem Gambling Mental Health Support
Targets at the end of 2022/23 for the PSW workforce were set at 3,520, increasing to 4,730 in 2023/24. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) sets out an ambition to grow the workforce further to 6,500 by 2036/37 across health services. (2023 National Report).
Psychological Professions
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out an ambition to grow this workforce by a further 24,000 - 26,000 WTE psychological professionals by 2037, almost doubling its current size (2024 Census Letter)
Social Workers and Social Care
Build Back Better: Our Plan for Health and Social Care Build Back Better: Our Plan for Health and Social Care - GOV.UK
The NHS Long Term Plan NHS Long Term Plan v1.2 August 2019
The ‘Build Back Better: Our Plan for Health and Social Care’ policy paper highlighted the need for adult social care reform following the Covid-19 pandemic, and the importance of integration between health and social care systems to improve patient outcomes. This followed on from Long Term Plan ambitions, promoting more integrated levels of care and a renewed focus on active population health management.
Next steps to put People at the Heart of Care Next steps to put People at the Heart of Care - GOV.UK
People at the Heart of Care People at the Heart of Care: adult social care reform - GOV.UK
Additionally, the ‘Next steps to put People at the Heart of Care’ white paper detailed a pledge of £250 million in investment towards workforce recognition and career development of the adult social care workforce, following the initial publication of the ‘People at the Heart of Care’ document in December 2021.
These papers highlighted the crucial role that social workers fulfil in supporting people with complex needs, and the importance of ensuring that they are recruited and retained successfully.
Specialist Perinatal Health
The NHS Long Term Plan and the NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan highlight the importance of specialist perinatal mental health (SPMH) and have committed to ensuring more women who have moderate/complex to severe SPMH difficulties will be able to access care and support in the community. The government commitment of £2.3bn per year investment into mental health services is to ensure that 2 million more people nationally will be able to get the mental health support they need (2024 Census Letter)