The number of children and young people waiting for speech and language therapy (SLT) support has increased by 3.69%, from 68,185 in May 2025 to 70,698 in June 2025.
Data on waiting times for community health services has only been publicly shared since 2023 and reviewing this enables us to see trends across a year, as well as consider areas of progress and concern. As can be seen in figure 1, there seems to be a general trend for numbers of children and young people waiting to drop over the Summer months, perhaps associated with reduced referrals from educational settings during this time. The number of children and young people waiting for speech and language therapy support is generally lower though not significantly.
Figure 1: Total children and young people waiting for SLT support in England 2023-2025
However this is the first year in public record that waiting list numbers have increased in June, rather than decreasing (see figure 2).
Figure 2: Total children and young people waiting for speech and language therapy in England in May 2023-2025 and June 2023-2025
Without full access to the data, it is difficult to tell whether this is because there were more referrals for children and young people, or less 'throughout' in the system (children and young people being seen and discharged), or a combination of the two. The latter seems most likely as there seems to have been an increase in the numbers waiting at all stages:
As can be seen in figure 3, in May 2025:
- 43,130 children and young people were waiting 0-18 weeks
- 25,055 children and young people were waiting 19 weeks or more (including 6,923 waiting over a year)
And in June 2025
- 44,215 children and young people were waiting 0-18 weeks
- 26,482 children and young people were waiting 19 weeks or more (including 7,003 waiting over a year)
Figure 3: Number of children and young people waiting for speech and language therapy in May and June 2025
Too many children and young people are waiting for the speech and language therapy that they and their families need. To give a sense of scale to these numbers, the current waiting list total equates to:
- Every MP in England having an average of 130 children and young people waiting for speech and language therapy support in their constituency, with 49 of them waiting for more than 18 weeks
- Each of the 9 regions of England having an average of 7,855 children and young people waiting for support, with 2,942 of them waiting for more than 18 weeks.
Speech and language therapists are far from complacent about these waits. In fact, in a recent survey from RCSLT (2025), 71% of NHS SLTs reported being concerned about the wait that children, young people and their families experience for a first appointment and 81% were concerned about waits for further support and intervention. And the challenges are only expected to increase. In a recent NHS Providers survey of NHS trust leaders, nearly half of respondents were expecting to scale back service provision and 85% were considering a recruitment freeze. Only 12% of respondents were confident they had sufficient access to capital to deliver a positive environment for staff, patients and service users. UNISON head of health Helga Pile has predicted that "“Making trusts axe jobs and services will mean patients will have to wait longer to be seen and make staffing levels less safe." And the impact of the cuts is already being seen in other community services, such as physiotherapy (Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, 2025).
Children's speech and language therapy has been a Cinderella service (Law, 2019) for far too long. It's time to bring these issues into the spotlight, give them the attention they deserve, and ensure that children, young people and their families have access to the support they need to truly thrive.
References:
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (2025) Graduate recruitment: stop the freezes. Available at: https://www.csp.org.uk/frontline/article/graduate-recruitment-stop-freezes [Accessed 18 August 2025]
Law, J. (2019) The Changing Perception of Communication Needs—A Litmus Test for the Warnock Legacy. Frontiers of Education, 4:42. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00042
NHS England (2025) Community health services waiting list. Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/community-health-services-waiting-lists/ [Accessed 18 August 2025]
NHS Providers (2025) Survey of NHS trust leaders on the financial reset. Available at: https://nhs-providers.uksouth01.umbraco.io/media/50gkajkh/financial-reset-survey-findings.pdf [Accessed 18 August 2025]
RCSLT (2025) A profession under pressure: speech and language therapy retention and waiting times. Available at: https://www.rcslt.org/speech-and-language-therapy/workforce/retention-and-waiting-times/ [Accessed 18 August 2025]
Rudd, G. (2025) A bold package of reforms: Is it working for children and young people with communication and swallowing needs? WAIT-UP SLT blog. Available at: https://waitupslt.blogspot.com/2025/07/a-bold-package-of-reforms-is-it-working.html [Accessed 18 August 2025]
UNISON (2025) Job and service cuts won’t help the NHS improve services for patients, says UNISON. Available at: https://www.unison.org.uk/news/2025/05/job-and-service-cuts-wont-help-the-nhs-improve-services-for-patients-says-unison/ [Accessed 18 August 2025]
About WAIT-UP SLT
WAIT-UP SLT is a research project focused on understanding the experiences of waiting within children's speech and language therapy (SLT) services in England. The project aims to explore these experiences from the perspectives of speech and language therapy teams, parents, caregivers, and children and young people, specifically addressing the gap in knowledge about the subjective experiences of those waiting for and within SLT services. Follow our work and find out more via Linktree: https://linktr.ee/waitupslt
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