Is £93Million enough?

The UK Government recently announced an additional £13Million for mental health services to help them cope with the number of people suffering because of the economic downturn. This is in addition to the £80Million funding already provided to Primary Care Trusts.

But the question is, what will that £13Million buy?

If we assume that an average counselling or therapy session costs about £50 (for an hour) how many people will that £13Million help?

£13Million divided by £50 is 260,000 sessions. At 6 session per person that's about 43000 people that could be helped, assuming that none of that money gets swallowed up in administration (unlikley).

But with unemployment numbers set to top 3 million people this looks like a very half hearted response to the impending problem.

Even if just one in ten of those unemployed needed help that £13Million looks hopelessly inadequate. Compared to the vast sums being deployed to keep the banks afloat the difference is startling.

The term recession depression is likely to crop up a lot more in the news over the next 12 months.