The same proportion of people died by suicide in 2021 (the latest available statistics) as in 2001, and campaigners want to know what ministers are doing about it.
Of course, figures have risen and fallen at various times in this 20-year period, but they landed back at 10.5 per 100,000 people in 2021 (equating to 5,219 people), reports show.
Government-imposed lockdowns appear to have resulted in a greater focus on the issue of suicide, as enforced mass isolation triggered various mental health concerns. There has, in the time since, been particular criticism of the fact that ministers were warned more children would die from suicide than COVID before they ordered schools to be closed. Among the elderly, too, charities have pointed to “much higher rates of depression and self-harming and suicide” due to the COVID response. And while authorities were quick to highlight that the rate did not rise during the first lockdown, it was soon revealed that the number of people seeking help for suicidal thoughts had risen drastically.
Charities are now demanding that the British Government match this increased focus on suicide with proportionate actions to tackle the crisis.
Leading suicide charity Samaritans, which can be reached here, has this week asked Tory Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to “urgently … confirm [that] funding for local suicide prevention will continue.”
The organisation was joined in its request by 20 other charities in the mental health and suicide prevention sectors. They will be listening closely to Hunt’s upcoming autumn economic statement. Such localised support could, they say, be “life-saving.”
