Grant funding to Lincolnshire Centre for Grief and Loss

Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) has been providing temporary grant funding to the Lincolnshire Centre for Grief and Loss (LCGL) since 2022 to provide grief and loss counselling to children and young people in the county.

After previous funding from Lincolnshire County Council came to an end three years ago,  LPFT was able to use some non-recurrent funding it had received to support the service on a temporary basis, as part of work to address an increase in demand following the pandemic.

During this time, LPFT has worked with LCGL to try to secure more permanent funding to support the continuation of their service. Unfortunately, this has not been possible.

We are also aware that the existing funded children and young people’s counselling sessions have all now been allocated, and so new places can only be provided at a cost for those wanting to access them.

Like all NHS trusts, LPFT is trying to address increasing financial pressures on services and look at how we can continue to work within the resources we have available to meet need and make best use of taxpayers’ money. The Trust has to prioritise the funding it receives to provide its statutory and mandated services, including supporting children and young people with their mental health.

The support LCGL has provided has been of great benefit to the children and young people who have accessed it.  While it is of course disappointing that we haven’t been able to secure more permanent funding for the service, we hope to continue to work in partnership with LCGL. We do appreciate that this news will be disappointing to the team and to anyone who may have used, or wants to use, this service. We hope that LCGL are able to secure alternative funding to continue the excellent work they do with children and young people.

We recognise that grief and loss for anyone can be a distressing time and can feel intense and difficult. These are natural reactions, and for most people they ease over time with support from family, friends and wider networks.

There are lots of organisations and resources both locally and nationally that can support people through this difficult period, helping people to understand and process grief and loss and what they can do to self-care or support someone else. You can read more about what else is available on our website here.

When it is identified that someone requires additional support to process their grief and loss – for example, if someone is at risk of developing more complex mental health challenges – LPFT has a broad range of emotional wellbeing and mental health services for children and young people available, ranging from early intervention to crisis support.

There has been significant investment and growth in children’s and young people’s mental health services over the last few years to address the increase in need, particularly in the early intervention space and support directly into schools. We continue to roll out the national ambition to have mental health support teams in all schools across the county by 2030, and many schools in the county also have their own pastoral support teams, or access to external counselling support.

We also have a 24/7 advice and self-referral line through Here4You Lincolnshire that can offer advice and signposting to young people, their families and carers. People can call for free 24/7 on 0800 234 6342.

While there is a wide range of grief and loss support available, we appreciate that people may still have feedback about the potential loss of the LCGL provision and the impact this might have. We welcome hearing people’s views and you can share these on this short online survey here, or by emailing lpft.involvement@nhs.net or writing to: LPFT Involvement Team, Trust Headquarters, St George’s, Long Leys Road, Lincoln, LN1 1FS..

The survey will be available until 30 January 2026, and any feedback collected will be considered as part of ongoing transformation for children and young people’s mental health services and shared with colleagues at Lincolnshire County Council and NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board.