The Rotherham Council Improving Lives Select Commission met on 16 September 2025, and received an annual update on the Rotherham Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), covering service performance, neurodevelopmental pathway progress, engagement with families, support for early years, mental health support in schools, and help for young people not in education. The commission also approved its work programme for the coming year.

Rotherham Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Annual Update

The Improving Lives Select Commission received an annual update on CAMHS, which included discussion of service performance, progress on the neurodevelopmental pathway, engagement with families and communities, support for early years, mental health support teams, support for young people not in education, and progress with equalities.

Key points from the update:

• CAMHS Performance: The report highlighted improvements in waiting times for the Getting Help pathway, with the longest wait down to five weeks. A transition worker is now in post to support young people moving to adult services, and peer support is embedded within the service. The Crisis Pathway is meeting expectations in over 99% of cases, with urgent referrals triaged quickly.
• Neurodevelopmental Pathway: Demand continues to increase, with an average of 24.7 referrals per week, compared to 17.8 last year. There are 1,864 children waiting for assessment, and while waiting times are reducing, the volume of referrals puts pressure on the team. The report noted that a new referral form has been developed to be more concise, and a new day clinic model is being piloted to make assessments faster and more efficient.
• Engagement with Families and Communities: With Me In Mind (WMIM) teams regularly meet with student ambassadors to gather feedback. The CAMHS have engaged with children, young people, and families when re-developing their delivery model for the Getting Advice pathway, leading to changes in the referral pathway and the development of a self-referral pathway.
• Support for Early Years: Mental health support in early years is coordinated by the Child Development Centre, which delivers diagnostic assessments for autism, supports the Best Start for Life programme[^1], and identifies special educational needs and disabilities. [^1]: The Best Start for Life programme aims to ensure babies, children and families can access the support they need, when they need it, from conception to the age of two.
• Mental Health Support Teams: The WMIM teams work in partnership with schools to provide evidence-based interventions for children with mild to moderate mental health difficulties. They currently work with 59 education settings, reaching around 24,000 pupils, and are planned to expand in 2026 to cover approximately 85% of education settings across the borough.
• Support to Young People Not in Education: Kooth, a digital mental health support service, is available to all young people and young adults across Rotherham aged 11-25. CAMHS is available to all children and young people, including those not in education, and is represented on the Rotherham Inclusion Panel supporting children at risk of exclusion or suspension.

The report also detailed the challenges faced by CAMHS, including sustained increased demand for services, staffing issues, and medication shortages.

The commission was asked to consider the progress made to implement strategies to support children and young people's mental health and wellbeing, and to include a further update on the work programme for 2026-2027.

Work Programme

The Improving Lives Select Commission approved its work programme for 2025/2026, which includes the following substantive items:

• CAMHS Update
• Rotherham Safeguarding Children Partnership (RSCP) Annual Report
• Corporate Parenting Partnership Board (CPPB) Annual Report 2024-2025
• Looked After Children and Care Leavers Sufficiency Strategy 2023- 2028 Update
• Revised Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Sufficiency Strategy
• Community Cohesion Projects Update
• SACRE Annual Report
• Children Not in School update
• Domestic Abuse Strategy Progress Update

The work programme also includes reviews for scheduling/on-going, items to be considered by other means, and items for future consideration.