As a vital part of the wider social care landscape, the mental health social care sector plays a crucial role in enabling people to live fulfilling, independent lives within their communities. Yet, despite its essential contributions, the sector remains underfunded, undervalued, and overshadowed in broader social care discussions.

The #ProvidersUnite movement brings together voices from across the sector to ensure that mental health social care is not just included in reform discussions but prioritised. With rising demand, financial strain, and workforce shortages, the system is at a breaking point. Without urgent action, essential services will continue to face instability, putting the mental health and wellbeing of thousands of people supported by our sector at risk.

We call on the Government to take decisive action by:

• Ensuring funding models reflect the complexity of mental health support, preventing risky short-term contracts that create uncertainty.
• Prioritising workforce strategies that focus on specialist training and retention.
• Guaranteeing fair wages with workforce sustainability being one of the biggest strategic risks to the sector.
• Recognising the economic contribution of social care, which not only provides essential care and support alongside the NHS but also strengthens local economies.
• Embedding mental health social care within the broader system, ensuring it is not treated as an afterthought but as an integral part of health and social care.

Mental health social care is not just about saving money, it’s about saving and changing lives, for the better. Without properly funded mental health services, more people will reach crisis point, leading to greater strain on NHS services. Investing in mental health social care reduces hospital admissions, prevents avoidable crises, and ensures people get the right support earlier, benefitting individuals, families, communities, and the entire health and social care system.

Through #ProvidersUnite, we stand with our peers across social care, advocating for a sustainable future where mental health services receive the funding, recognition, and long-term investment they deserve. Now is the time to act, before more services are lost and more people face a mental health crisis. Let’s raise our voices together and put mental health at the heart of social care reform.