Community sector

Community services waiting lists rose for the third month running in March, nearing the high recorded in August 2024.
Long waits for community services peaked, with the number of waits exceeding 52 weeks hitting a new record. This has been largely driven by long waits for CYP which also reached a record high this month.
Following a sharp rise in January, community services experienced a decline in referral requests in February. The number of care contacts also fell compared to the previous month.
Our recent report, Providers Deliver: putting young people at the heart of care, showcases how trusts are reshaping care models to better meet the needs of CYP.

The community services waiting list increased to 1.09 million people in March 2025. The waiting list is now 4.3% larger than February 2024.
A record high 314,430 CYP waited for community services in March, an increase of 15.3% compared to last year.
After five consecutive months of gradual decline, the overall number of adults waiting for community services increased in March, reaching a total of 775,920.

FIGURE 4
Community health services total reported waiting list

There have been significant increases in CYP long waits over the last year. There are now 67,730 CYP waiting for 52 weeks or more, the highest number recorded and an increase of around 150% since last year. Over 15,000 CYP have been waiting more than two years for care.
There were 9,987 adults waiting more than 52 weeks for treatment, increasing by 9% since last year. Among them, 530 adults were waiting more than 104 weeks for treatment.

Referral requests dropped back in February 2025 to 1.66m, down by 11% compared to January. Referrals have increased by 60% compared to five years ago, before the pandemic (February 2020).
After a record number of care contacts were reported in January, there was a 14.4% decrease in February to 8.27m care contacts. This is a 4.4% drop compared to the same time last year.

FIGURE 5
Total referrals received by community services