Time and again over the past five years, children's social workers have told me that the insufficiency of children and young people's mental health support is a crippling factor preventing them getting the best outcomes.

It is a consistent refrain from frontline practitioners up to senior managers. They have shared anecdotes about children they work with being turned away from Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) ‘because they aren't suicidal' – often the threshold for accessing vital CAMHS support. They have also told me stories of children in care waiting months on end for their referral to reach the top of the list while dealing with the serious consequences of early childhood trauma and at the same time moving home, school and family.