Covering the costs of their crisis

The case for a levy on the corporations fueling and profiting from the youth mental health crisis

Emma Woods

2/4/20254 min read

This week Just Treatment launched their Mad Youth Organise campaign protesting the corporations fuelling the youth mental health crisis. Alongside the Mad Youth Manifesto Flourish Economics is humbled to publish research which supports this important campaign and exposes the way corporate activities are driving the youth mental health crisis.

NHS funding for children and young people's mental health in England 2023/24

£1.1 billion

Shortfall in children and young people's NHS funding to cover mental health treatment

£5.2 billion

Levy on harmful corporate sectors required to cover funding gap in children and young people's treatment

2.5%

Children and young people in England accessing NHS community mental health support*

£6.3 billion

Children and young people in England accessing NHS community mental health support*

700,000

Children and young people in England with a probable mental health disorder 2022

2.6 million

Capitalism is killing us. Not only is it poisoning our air, water and land it is also unravelling the social fabric of our communities, dismantling public services and damaging our mental health. This research exposes the scale of mental health challenges for young people in England.

in a nutshell

the summary...

What's driving this? In short, capitalism.

Over recent decades neo-liberal policy making has led to a steady change in our economic, social and environmental conditions and structures. Some have called it a polycrisis where climate change, rising costs of living and deepening inequality are interacting to create an overwhelming burden on our mental and physical wellbeing.

Young people in the UK are now the most unhappy in Europe, part of a global trend of declining youth mental health closely tied to the dominant capitalist thinking that is shaping our world. The crisis in young people’s wellbeing, accelerated by the COVID pandemic, is deeply exacerbated by a historical neglect of mental healthcare within the NHS and more than a decade of austerity which has resulted in chronic undersupply of appropriate youth mental health care, and the destruction of wider systems of support young people replied upon.

One in five children in England are believed to have had a probable mental health disorder in 2023 - equivalent to around 2.6 million children and young people in 2022 - and over a quarter of a million children and young people are on waiting lists for care in England alone. Many languish in that queue, waiting for care, for over two years, but the situation is so bad that some suicidal children and young people are not even granted a place on a waiting list.

This reality is the clear consequence of government decision making, shaped by corporate lobbyists, and the business models of companies across a broad range of industries. This report argues that we will never effectively end this crisis without directly naming these economic and corporate drivers of this crisis, and taking far-reaching policy actions to change the context within which young people are growing up.

Essentially, capitalism is making us sick, and we need to hold the corporations responsible to account.

The research looked into seven corporate sectors that have an element of their activity that could be considered harmful. The sectors were Betting and Gaming, Social media, advertising and fashion, Fossil fuels, Housing, Outsourcing and privatisation of public services. In total the estimated UK revenue of the 7 sectors reviewed totalled £213.7 billion, equivalent to around 10% of UK total economic activity in 2022.

There is a long and demonstrably effective history of using taxation to raise money to fund public services from societally harmful economic activity, and strong evidence that such taxes can force changes in corporate behaviour to reduce the negative effects of their operations. Existing levies on the eight sectors studied raised £8.88 billion in taxes in 2022/23, equivalent to around 4.15% of these sector’s total revenues.

The aim of additional levies on these sectors would be to raise revenue from the industries responsible for the problems our young people are facing; encourage a shift by the public and corporations away from harmful activity; and to fund policy interventions that will improve the mental health of young people.

Basic modelling was undertaken to understand the scale of youth mental health disorder and the costs to treat this through the NHS. Whilst we believe we need holistic changes in economic and social policy, and more investment in prevention services that stop young people’s mental health deteriorating, we have focused for illustrative purposes on funding needed to close the gap in funding between existing levels of care, and the amount needed to significantly improve access to mental health services for young people.

The cost of treating all young people in England with a probable mental health issues with appropriate care, is estimated at £6.3bn per year. With existing NHS budgets this would leave a funding shortfall of around £5.2 billion. A levy of 2.5% on corporate sectors identified as having harmful activities would be sufficient to cover the funding shortfall.

one in five young people have a probable mental health disorder