14/10/2026
Last week was hard. A 599-page government review on mental health, ADHD and autism did not mention FASD once. Many of you told us how that felt.
But we want you to know this: we are not starting from nothing. The case for recognising FASD is already written into official guidance. Swipe through to read what it says, in its own words.
Public Health England calls reducing the harms caused by alcohol in pregnancy “a public health priority”.
The Department of Health and Social Care’s FASD Health Needs Assessment says “There is no ‘mild FASD’“. It also warns that without a diagnosis, people may be unable to get the support available for conditions such as autism.
SIGN 156, the diagnostic guideline accepted by NICE, says prenatal alcohol exposure “should be actively considered” as a possible cause of neurodevelopmental delay.
NICE Quality Standard 204 says children and young people with probable prenatal alcohol exposure and significant difficulties should be referred for assessment.
And we have new evidence. Our Cost of Inaction report shows FASD costs the UK around £9.2 billion every year. It also shows that a four-nation programme to prevent and respond to FASD could be funded with the equivalent of just 0.25% of alcohol duty receipts. Action is affordable. Inaction is not.
The Government has said it will now write a Mental Health Strategy. We have already contacted the Government and dozens of MPs to make sure they know the importance of including FASD in it.
Next, we are bringing people together. Over the coming months we will hold a series of roundtables with clinicians, policy makers, and people with lived experience and their families. Together we will turn this evidence into a plan that cannot be ignored.
Your voices have brought FASD this far. Together, we will take it further.
🔗Read the Cost of Inaction report: https://nationalfasd.org.uk/the-cost-of-inaction-on-fasd/
🔗Read our response to the Fonagy Review here: https://nationalfasd.org.uk/mental-health-adhd-autism-review-ignores-fasd/
