Financial insecurity, poor sleep, social media harms, and “drastic cuts to youth services” have fuelled a three-fold rise in mental health issues among young people since 2000, according to a report by Youth Futures Foundation (YFF), the government’s youth employment centre.

Researchers found youth services funding in England has fallen 73% since 2010, despite evidence these and early intervention programmes previously supported mental health. Poor sleep quality, strongly linked to depression and anxiety, was also identified as a growing issue.

The report links the mental health crisis to nearly one in eight 16–24-year-olds in the UK being NEET (not in education, employment or training) in early 2025, with numbers nearing one million. September 2024 figures marked the highest NEET rate since 2015, driven largely by long-term sickness.