The Scottish Government revealed its draft budget for 2025 to 26 which includes headline policy priorities such as a record level of funding for the NHS and councils, universal winter payments for pensioners, and a pledge to scrap the two-child cap in universal credit in Scotland.

Improved wait times

The NHS was earmarked as a core priority and allocated an investment of £21billion - which includes £200million to reduce waiting times and improve capacity to reform the service and make it more efficient. It is hoped that this will ensure 150,000 additional patients will be treated, and by March 2026 no one will wait longer than 12 months for a new outpatient appointment, inpatient treatment or day case treatment.

Their commitments to address waiting times also include a pledge to ‘support improvements across a range of mental health services and treatments’ - which we hope will expand access to psychological therapies, including counselling and psychotherapy.

More funding for teenage mental health

In her speech, the Finance Secretary also committed to funding more community-based support for teenage mental health, which we fully support, as well as an additional £250million in the National Mission on Drugs. We hope this will extend vital and lifesaving community services which utilise the counselling and psychotherapy provision.   

This budget will need to be ratified by the Scottish Parliament, and it is expected a vote will follow in February 2025 after further consultation with the other parties in Holyrood. We will continue to engage with the Scottish Government and all parties to ensure that any plans to further expand mental health support fully take account of the need to utilise the expertise of the counselling professions.

Speaking after the draft Budget announcement, our Four Nations Lead, Steve Mulligan, said:

Workforce expansion is essential

"We are pleased to see a commitment to funding for more community-based mental health support for Scotland’s young people, alongside the continued investment in secondary school counselling. We also welcome £200million for health boards to address health and social care waiting times, including for psychological therapies.

"While we welcome these commitments, they will only be effective if supported by workforce expansion.  It is vital that the Scottish Government utilises the expertise and capacity of our members in Scotland across health, community and education settings to help grow the workforce to deliver these priorities.

Student counselling budget disappointing 

“While it’s pleasing to see investment in improving mental health for young people, we are disappointed that the student counselling budget for universities and colleges, which was slashed last year due to extensive funding pressures, has not been reinstated following the additional injection to this year’s budget through the barnet formula.                                                                  

A reduced budget for mental health

“We are also concerned to see analysis from Scottish Action for Mental Health (SAMH) which shows that the overall budget for mental health is being reduced from £290million to £270million at a time when demand continues to grow.  This is on the back of the £18million cuts to mental health services in Scotland last year, and we fear this could lead to a loss of momentum in delivering the objectives of the Mental Health Strategy."