NEARLY nine in 10 teachers have seen a rise in student mental health issues over the past year, a survey has found.

And nearly six in 10 said it has increased greatly in that short period of time, the poll of more than 8,000 National Education Union (NEU) members in England and Wales found.

About half also identified chronic anxiety, exam anxiety and absenteeism in relation to mental ill-health or treatment as regular factors.

Three-quarters identified general social difficulties among pupils in the union’s State of Education survey.

Its findings were released during the union’s annual conference in Bournemouth.

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “Support services for mental health are under an incredible strain and the system is clearly buckling.

“Young people end up in a referral limbo which may not resolve itself until they are months or even years down the line.

“The government must now move heaven and earth to get these waiting times down and equip schools and local authorities with the staffing and resources to close this enormous gap.”

In England in 2022/3, just 32 per cent of the 949,200 young people with active referrals for Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services (Camhs) received support, according to statistics published by the Children’s Commissioner last month.

A support staff respondent to the survey said: “Referral times for very serious issues are a joke.

“It feels almost impossible to get support for students: funding and services are being cut and waiting lists are so long as to make referrals almost pointless.

“Schools are expected to deal with it but are given neither the time nor resources to do so.

“The system is broken. Students have to be ‘actively’ suicidal to get a Camhs referral.”