Leadership Board - Fifth meeting: update paper

2. Budget

The budget for 2026-27 was announced on 13 January 2026. The draft mental health programme budget will be £149.833 million in 2026-27. While the figure for Mental Health looks different for 2026-27, it is not a reduction. Indeed, it includes additional investment of £7.6 million to support improvements in neurodevelopmental assessment and care, and £3 million in the Changing Place Toilets programme.

The Scottish Government has baselined a number of programmes funded in 2025-26, transferring this funding to other portfolios and to NHS Boards. This includes £127.7 million recurring allocations to NHS Boards for spend on mental health which, from 2026-27, will be included in their core allocations. Within the draft budget, the Scottish Government commits to maintaining their focus on progressing key commitments to support mental health, including working to address CAMHS and psychological therapies waiting times backlogs (2024-25 PfG commitment), and continuing community-based mental health and wellbeing support for children, young people and adults.

The majority of spending on mental health is delivered through NHS Board budgets. Between the Scottish Government and NHS Boards, mental health spending is expected to exceed £1.5 billion in 2026-27 based on the most recent cost book data.

We recognise that both locally and nationally, partners continue to face difficult budgetary decisions, and ongoing challenges with staff capacity as we look towards 2026/27. This includes the third sector, with the second year of the Fairer Funding pilot offering some frontline providers reassurance around 2026-27 provision; and work is underway to offer letters of comfort to others, where practicable. However, ongoing pressures are acknowledged.

Within this challenging context, it is even more important to ensure that investment is effectively targeted to deliver sustainable and high-impact services and support. The Mental Health Strategy provides an overarching framework for prioritising resources and will inform where national investment is made in relation to the next plan and help inform local decision-making on meeting mental health need.