HUNDREDS of community mental health projects across Scotland face cash shortages after losing out on crucial grant support, Scottish Labour warned today.

Figures obtained by the party’s mental health spokesman MSP Paul Sweeney show that 43 per cent of all applications to the Scottish government-funded Communities, Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund have missed out.

The fund, launched in 2021 amid concerns over a looming mental health time-bomb after the Covid-19 pandemic, is administered by the Third Sector Interface. There were 2,585 applications from community-based mental health projects across the country — but only 1,461 have received support.

Mr Sweeney said that the numbers of applications showed Scotland was in the “grips of a mental health crisis and services across the board are struggling to cope.”

He said: “This funding was designed to support the vital work being done by community mental health services, but hundreds of projects stand to miss out.

“Along with the chaos in NHS services and the slow progress on school counselling, this is just the latest in a long list of failures under the SNP.

“The government’s sticking-plaster approach isn’t working — we need a comprehensive plan to ensure people can get the mental health support they need when they need it.”

A Scottish government spokesman said: “We have invested £36 million in our Communities, Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults over two years, with approximately 3,300 grants being made to local organisations across Scotland and we are committing a further £15 million in 2023-24.

“This is just one of a number of actions we are taking to ensure more people have their needs met as early as possible — a key ambition in our new mental health and well-being strategy.”