School-based counsellors can play an important role in supporting pupil mental wellbeing, alongside wider pastoral support.

Schools are best placed to decide what pastoral support to offer to meet pupil need and they have the flexibility to use a number of funding streams to provide this support, which can include counselling. Funding streams include core schools funding, which is set to increase to the highest ever level in real terms per pupil in the 2024/25 financial year, following the additional investment of £2 billion in each of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years, as announced in the Autumn Statement 2022.

Schools can also use pupil premium and recovery premium funding to support pupil wellbeing, including through employing counsellors, in line with an evidence-based menu of approaches. Pupil premium rates have increased by 5% for 2023/24, to a total of £2.9 billion, and recovery premium will provide a further £1 billion of funding across the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years, following over £300 million delivered in 2022/23.

To support the provision of counselling in schools, in addition to increasing the funding available, the department has published a blueprint for school counselling services, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools. This provides schools with practical, evidence-based advice on how to deliver high quality school-based counselling.