In light of the dramatic rise in mental health disorders among adolescents seen in the past decade across the world, there is an urgent need for robust evidence on what works to combat this trend. This paper provides the first robust evaluation of the impacts on school outcomes of 6-year funding programme (HeadStart) for area-level mental health interventions for adolescents. Exploiting educational administrative data on ten cohorts of state-educated secondary school students, we use the synthetic control method to construct counterfactual outcomes for areas that received the funding. We show that the funding did not affect students’ absenteeism or academic attainment, but it prevented around 800 students (c. 10% of students typically excluded yearly) from being excluded in its first year. The transient nature of this effect suggests that sustained funding for intervention is a necessary but not sufficient condition to maintain programme effectiveness over time.
Working Paper details
- DOI
- 10.1920/wp.ifs.2022.4222
- Publisher
- Institute for Fiscal Studies
Suggested citation
Cattan, S et al. (2022). The impact of area level mental health interventions on outcomes for secondary school pupils: Evidence from the HeadStart programme in England . 22/42. London: Institute for Fiscal Studies. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/impact-area-level-mental-health-interventions-outcomes-secondary-school-pupils (accessed: 24 June 2025).
More from IFS
Understand this issue

Sure Start’s wide-ranging and long-lasting benefits highlight the impact of integrated early years services
Over the long run, Sure Start’s financial benefits could be twice as high as its costs
22 May 2025

Simulated list size and performance against the 18-week target under a variety of treatment growth rate assumptions
Although performance improves in each case, in none of our scenarios does performance reach the 92% target by the end of the parliament.
20 March 2025

Spending Review 2025: What it means and why it matters
We take a closer look at the Spending Review and what the policies mean for public services, investment and the wider economy.
12 June 2025
Policy analysis

Council tax hikes will do the heavy lifting
IFS Senior Research Economist Kate Ogden writes in Municipal Journal about what the 2025 Spending Review will mean for public services and councils.
17 June 2025

Popularity of new childcare entitlements could leave spending much higher than initially forecast
New childcare entitlements have proven popular – meaning spending from 2026 onwards could be £1 billion higher than originally forecast.
12 June 2025

What the Spending Review really means for schools
The next few years are going to be very tight for school budgets and forecasting anything more than a real-terms freeze is highly optimistic.
12 June 2025
Academic research

Future challenges for health and social care provision in the UK
We consider recent trends in health and social care productivity and the scope for future improvements.
6 June 2025

Job competition in civil service public exams and sick leave behaviour
In this paper, we investigate the impact of new openings for civil service positions on sickness absences using data from Spain between 2009 and 2015.
23 June 2025

The future of public pension provision in the UK: challenges and trade-offs
The UK state pension system faces significant challenges given the country’s ageing population, but it is crucial for retirement finances.
6 June 2025