A new census has shone a welcome light on the desperate state of English schools struggling to 鈥榝ill the gaps left by years of neglect鈥� in funding for vital roles - like school counsellors and family support officers.

Dame Rachel de Souza's report, , revealed the extent of schools鈥� worries about funding of services.

And more than eight in 10 of primary schools (83%) and secondary schools (88%) who don鈥檛 have a mental health counsellor said they want one.

First-of-its-kind national census

Martin Bell, our Head of Policy and Public Affairs, said:聽

鈥淲e鈥檙e pleased to see the Children鈥檚 Commissioner using her statutory powers to get all schools and colleges in England to respond to this first-of-its-kind census.

鈥淭he results shine a light on the struggle schools have trying to support pupils' additional needs far beyond those within the formally recognised SEND system: from housing and health challenges, to having a parent in prison, to dealing with bereavement and caring responsibilities.鈥�

School leaders concern on wider services funding

School funding was revealed as a top concern for school leaders, with secondary schools more worried about the funding of wider services than their own.聽

The census found that 42% of primary schools and 82% of secondary schools provided a mental health counsellor.

30% of secondary schools鈥� counsellors were provided by external agencies.

鈥淯nfortunately, the outcomes of this report aren鈥檛 surprising,鈥� says Martin, 鈥淲e鈥檝e called for funding for a school counsellor in every school in England for many years. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have government funded school counselling services. England does not. There鈥檚 a postcode lottery of support, where many pupils miss out on receiving this vital support鈥澛�

鈥淲e need more ambition from Government to address this. While we welcome the government鈥檚 investment in mental health support teams, this will still leave around 730,000 children a year to fall through the gaps, and funding for鈥�Young Futures Hubs鈥� is far less than initially promised.聽

鈥淲e know that two-thirds of our members who work with under-18s say they鈥檙e seeing an increase in children coming to therapy who have been waiting more than a year for access to support elsewhere.聽

鈥淚f these children were able to access help from a qualified therapist in school at an earlier stage it would make a huge difference to their lives. It also provides a long-term benefit to the taxpayer (eight times the cost of investment).聽

鈥淲e鈥檒l keep calling Government to secure universal access to counselling for children and young people in England, working with organisations who echo the importance and value of school counselling, like Citizens UK.鈥澛�