Addaction’s five wishes for the Autumn budget

How the government can help people who are trying to make a change

On Monday 29 October, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond will announce the government’s autumn budget, setting out its spending plans for the next six months.

At Addaction we believe that this budget is an opportunity to provide more support to people struggling with drug, alcohol and/or mental health issues. Based on our evidence, here are five key proposals that would make a big difference to people attempting to make a change.

1. Increase public health spending

Research by the BBC found that £162 million has been cut from local authority drug and alcohol treatment budgets since 2013–14. Two thirds of local authority alcohol treatment budgets fell between 2016–18 and 17 saw cuts of over 50%. It’s no wonder that The Health Foundation state that “an additional £3.2bn a year is required to reverse the impact of government cuts to the public health grant.”

According to Public Health England, for every £1 spent on alcohol treatment there’s a £3 return. We believe that investing in people’s recovery can only help society as a whole.

2. Set out a radical new alcohol strategy

Alcohol has never been cheaper and alcohol related hospital admissions have never been higher. Without concrete action alcohol could cost the NHS £17 billion over the next five years.

That’s why we are one of 30 organisations backing a new Alcohol Charter that demands a fresh evidence-based alcohol strategy. This includes introducing a 1% treatment levy on alcohol which would generate £100 million to invest in alcohol treatment.

3. Increase early support for young people’s mental health

Child and Adolescent mental health funding currently makes up under 1% of the entire health budget.

Rick Bradley, Manager of our Mind and Body programme which supports young people with mental health problems, blogged powerfully about the effectiveness of early intervention when it comes to young people’s mental health.

Yet mental health services rejected 55,000 referrals for young people in 2017–2018 as their condition was perceived to be not serious enough to meet required thresholds.

Only increased funding can allow us to give young people effective early support.

4. Make sure vital life saving medications are available

Drug related deaths are at the highest level ever recorded, yet many key medications are not available to the people who need them most.

Buprenorphine is a drug used in opiate substitute treatment. It reduces the symptoms of withdrawal and enables people to focus on addressing other issues in their lives. Individuals are less likely to overdose on it compared to methadone and it poses less risk in cases of accidental consumption.

It has proven to effectively support thousands of people addressing their heroin use. But a 700% surge in its price has put future supplies and use in jeopardy and with it the recovery of thousands of people engaging with drug treatment services.

Additionally, Naloxone is a vital tool in saving the lives of people from opioid overdoses. Yet current provision levels, which vary across the country from nil to adequate, are extremely concerning.

Government action is needed to make sure these vital medications continue to be available for people who need them.

5. Take Gambling related harm seriously

The Gambling Commission estimates that 430,000 people have a serious gambling habit and in excess of two million people are at-risk of problem gambling. Our own polling found that approximately 3% of the population, 1.9 million people, have experienced a gambling problem. However, less than 2% of problem gamblers were referred to treatment support last year.

Our polling found that people who have experience of gambling problems are often vulnerable people with multiple issues. They are 6 times more likely to also have experienced drug issues and 4 times more likely to have experience of an alcohol issue.

Just over £5 million was spent on treatment support for problem gambling last year, despite the total gross gambling yield of the Great Britain gambling industry being in excess of £13 billion in 2016/17. Introducing a statutory levy on gambling companies, with the proceeds funding treatment schemes, would help address this imbalance.

Addaction is a public health charity working with people affected by drugs, alcohol and mental health problems. Last year we helped more than 130,000 people in England and Scotland. If you or someone you care about needs help, visit www.addaction.org.uk