Mental health and learning disability sector

Referrals (data from December 2025)

• There were 446,527 new referrals to mental health services in December 2025.
  
  
• There were 2.36 million open referrals to mental health services in December 2025.
  
  
• In the 12 months to December 2025, 863,472 CYP accessed mental health services, the highest figure on record (since March 2021) and compared with 820,650 in December 2024. 

Contacts (data from December 2025)

• 2.19 million people were in contact with mental health services at the end of December, the highest figure on record (since April 2019). 
  
  
• There were 2.23 million care contacts attended in December compared with 1.84 million in December 2019. 

Community mental health (data for October to December 2025) 

• 202,339 CYP had a first contact with NHS funded mental health services, compared with 199,904 in the same period in 2024. 
  
  
• The number of children and young people still waiting for a first contact from community mental health services was 380,850 in the three months to December, compared with 304,487 in the same period in 2024.
  
  
• The median wait times for CYP still waiting between referral and first contact was 323 days, compared with 289 in the same period in 2024.  
  
  
• For adults with serious mental illness, 125,055 received their second contact with services in the three-month period to December, compared with 125,738 for the same period last year. 
  
  
• 185,814 adults with serious mental illness were still waiting for their second contact from community mental health services in the three months to December, compared with 217,300 for the same period last year.  
  
  
• The median wait time for a second contact since referral for adults with serious mental illness was 70 days, compared with 90 days for the same period last year. 

Out of area placements (OAPs) (data for December 2025) 

• At the end of December 2025, there were 330 inappropriate OAPs in adult acute beds compared with 435 in December 2024.