Best Software for Mental Health Charities in the UK (2026)

Mental health charities need software that handles sensitive client data, tracks therapeutic outcomes over time, and supports complex referral pathways — all while meeting strict confidentiality and safeguarding requirements. Generic CRMs and spreadsheets are not designed for this. Purpose-built platforms save time, improve data quality, and make funder reporting far easier.

This guide compares the best CRM and case management software for UK mental health charities in 2026, covering what to look for, how the main options compare, and how to choose the right platform for your organisation.

TL;DR

• Mental health charities need case management software with outcome tracking (PHQ-9, GAD-7, WEMWBS), safeguarding tools, and role-based access — not a generic CRM.
• Plinth offers AI-powered case management, AI case notes, outcome surveys, and impact reporting from £0. It is purpose-built for UK charities, including mental health organisations.
• Charitylog and Lamplight are established options for advice and counselling charities, but lack AI features.
• iaptus is designed for NHS Talking Therapies services, not the voluntary sector.
• Salesforce is powerful but expensive and requires heavy customisation.
• The right choice depends on your service model, team size, and whether you need clinical-grade reporting or charity-focused impact measurement.

The Mental Health Charity Sector in 2026

One in five adults in England — 20.2% — is living with a common mental health condition, according to NHS Digital data. Among 16-to-24-year-olds, prevalence has risen from 17.5% in 2007 to 25.8% in 2023-24. The cost of mental ill health in England is estimated at £300 billion per year.

The voluntary sector plays a critical role in meeting this demand. The Association of Mental Health Providers represents over 300 member organisations across England and Wales, and hundreds more smaller charities, community groups, and counselling services operate locally. NHS mental health spending reached £15.6 billion in 2025-26, with a significant proportion flowing to voluntary and community sector providers through contracts and grants.

Despite this investment, mental health waiting lists stood at 1.7 million people in 2025. Community mental health charities are increasingly filling gaps in statutory provision — delivering talking therapies, peer support, crisis intervention, and wellbeing programmes that the NHS cannot provide at scale.

For these charities, the right software is not a luxury. It is the difference between evidencing impact to funders and losing contracts, between safe data management and a safeguarding failure.

What Mental Health Charities Need From Software

Mental health charities have specific requirements that set them apart from other parts of the voluntary sector. If you are evaluating software, these are the features that matter most.

Secure Case Management With Role-Based Access

Mental health casework involves highly sensitive personal data — diagnoses, therapy notes, safeguarding concerns, risk assessments. Your software must support role-based access controls so that only authorised staff can view specific records. This is not optional; it is a GDPR requirement and a clinical governance expectation from commissioners.

Outcome Tracking With Standardised Measures

Funders and commissioners increasingly require evidence of impact using validated outcome measures. The most common in UK mental health services include:

• PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire) — measures depression severity on a 0-27 scale
• GAD-7 (Generalised Anxiety Disorder scale) — measures anxiety severity on a 0-21 scale
• WEMWBS / SWEMWBS (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale) — measures positive mental wellbeing
• CORE-OM (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation) — a broader measure used in counselling services

NHS Talking Therapies data shows that approximately 50% of the 1.81 million adults referred annually are defined as "recovered" at discharge, with 63.7% showing reliable improvement on PHQ-9 and GAD-7 combined. Voluntary sector organisations are increasingly held to similar outcome standards. Your software needs to collect and report on these measures efficiently.

Pathway and Journey Tracking

Mental health support is rarely a single interaction. Clients typically move through structured pathways: referral, triage or assessment, allocation, therapy or support sessions, review, and discharge. Software should allow you to define and track these pathways, with visibility of where each client sits at any point.

Safeguarding Flags and Concern Levels

Mental health work frequently involves clients at risk. Software must support safeguarding flags, concern levels, and escalation workflows. Staff need to see at a glance which cases require urgent attention, and managers need oversight of all flagged cases.

Session and Appointment Booking

Many mental health charities deliver one-to-one counselling or group therapy on fixed schedules. Integrated appointment booking reduces no-shows and administrative overhead.

Partner Referral Management

Mental health charities work within complex referral networks — receiving referrals from GPs, NHS community mental health teams, social prescribers, schools, and other voluntary organisations. Your software should track referral sources and outcomes to maintain these relationships and demonstrate your value to partners.

Impact Reporting for Funders

Whether you are funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, local authority contracts, NHS commissioning, or trusts and foundations, you will need to produce regular impact reports. Software that generates reports directly from outcome data saves significant staff time. Grants of up to £75,000 are available for mental health facilities and equipment in the UK, and virtually all require evidence of measurable outcomes.

GDPR Compliance and Data Encryption

This should be non-negotiable. Your software must encrypt data at rest and in transit, support data subject access requests, allow data deletion, and provide audit trails. Mental health data is classified as "special category data" under UK GDPR, requiring additional protections.

Software Options Compared

Plinth

Plinth is a purpose-built platform for UK charities, with features specifically suited to mental health organisations.

AI Case Management tracks clients through configurable pathways with Theory of Change outcomes tracking, concern levels, and safeguarding flags. You can define your own stages — from referral through assessment, therapy, and discharge — and monitor progress across your entire caseload. A free tier is available for smaller organisations. Learn more about Case Management

AI Case Notes let staff record therapy and support sessions, with AI transcribing and structuring notes automatically. This delivers a 50%+ time saving on case note administration — time that frontline mental health workers can reinvest in direct client support. Learn more about AI Case Notes

Partner CRM manages referral relationships with GPs, NHS services, social prescribers, and other partner organisations. Track which partners refer clients to you, response times, and outcomes. Learn more about Partner CRM

Surveys collect wellbeing measures digitally — PHQ-9, GAD-7, WEMWBS, or any custom measure your service uses. Clients can complete assessments on their own devices before sessions, reducing clinician time and improving data completeness. Learn more about Surveys

Impact Reporting uses Agent Pippin, an AI reporting assistant, to generate funder-ready reports directly from your outcome data. No more manual data extraction and formatting. Learn more about Impact Reporting

Pricing: Case management starts from £0.

Best for: Small to medium mental health charities, counselling services, and wellbeing organisations that want modern, AI-powered tools without enterprise complexity or cost.

Charitylog

Charitylog is a well-established CRM used across the UK advice and support sector.

Strengths: Widely used, good for recording activities and outputs, reasonable reporting, and established integrations with some local authority systems. It handles basic outcome recording.

Limitations: The interface is dated compared to newer platforms. Outcome tracking is not as flexible as purpose-built mental health tools. It lacks AI features for case notes or reporting. It is better suited to advice services than therapeutic models.

Best for: Advice-focused mental health charities, particularly those already using Charitylog for other services.

Lamplight

Lamplight is a database and case management system used by some UK counselling and mental health charities.

Strengths: Flexible data model that can be configured for different service types. Reasonable outcome tracking. Good for organisations that need a customisable database rather than an opinionated workflow tool.

Limitations: Requires significant configuration to set up properly. The user interface is functional but not modern. Limited AI or automation features. Reporting can be complex to set up.

Best for: Counselling charities that need a flexible database and have the capacity to configure it for their specific needs.

iaptus

iaptus is a clinical system designed specifically for NHS Talking Therapies (formerly IAPT) services.

Strengths: Purpose-built for the PHQ-9/GAD-7 clinical pathway. Compliant with NHS data standards and reporting requirements. Handles clinical governance workflows.

Limitations: Designed for NHS-commissioned services, not the broader voluntary sector. Expensive for smaller charities. The clinical orientation may be more rigid than community mental health organisations need.

Best for: Charities delivering NHS Talking Therapies contracts that must meet specific NHS data and reporting standards.

Salesforce (Nonprofit Cloud)

Salesforce is the dominant enterprise CRM, with a nonprofit edition offering discounted licences.

Strengths: Extremely powerful and customisable. Large ecosystem of integrations. Good for large organisations with complex multi-site operations.

Limitations: Requires substantial customisation (and budget) to work for mental health casework. Implementation typically costs tens of thousands of pounds. Ongoing administration requires Salesforce expertise. Over-engineered for most mental health charities.

Best for: Large mental health charities with dedicated IT teams and the budget for enterprise software.

Comparison Table

How to Choose the Right Software

Consider Your Service Model

If you deliver structured talking therapies under NHS contracts, iaptus may be required. If you run community mental health support, peer groups, or wellbeing services, a charity-focused platform like Plinth or Lamplight is more appropriate.

Consider Your Team Size

Smaller teams (under 20 staff) benefit most from platforms that are quick to set up and easy to learn. Enterprise platforms like Salesforce add overhead that small teams cannot absorb. With over 37% of UK adults now using AI chatbots for mental health support, your team should also consider how AI-powered tools can reduce their administrative burden.

Consider Your Budget

Mental health charities operate on tight margins. Software costs should be proportionate to your income. A free tier — like Plinth's — lets you start without financial risk and scale as your organisation grows.

Consider Your Reporting Requirements

If your funders require specific outcome measures, check that your chosen platform supports them natively or through configurable surveys. Retrofitting outcome tracking onto a system not designed for it is painful and error-prone.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best CRM for mental health charities in the UK?

For most UK mental health charities, Plinth offers the best balance of features, ease of use, and affordability. It includes AI case management, outcome tracking, and impact reporting from £0. Charitylog and Lamplight are alternatives if you need a more traditional database approach.

Do mental health charities need specialist software?

Yes. Mental health casework involves sensitive data, standardised outcome measures, therapeutic pathways, and safeguarding requirements that generic CRMs do not handle well. Purpose-built software reduces risk and saves time.

Can I use Plinth to track PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores?

Yes. Plinth's survey feature supports PHQ-9, GAD-7, WEMWBS, and custom measures. Clients can complete assessments digitally, and scores feed directly into case records and impact reports.

How much does case management software cost for a mental health charity?

Costs vary significantly. Plinth starts from £0 with a free tier. Charitylog and Lamplight typically cost from a few hundred pounds per month. Salesforce implementations can cost tens of thousands in setup alone. iaptus pricing varies by contract size.

Is spreadsheet-based case management acceptable for mental health charities?

It is common but problematic. Spreadsheets do not provide role-based access, audit trails, or encryption appropriate for special category health data under UK GDPR. The Information Commissioner's Office has taken enforcement action against organisations that fail to protect sensitive data adequately.

What outcome measures should a mental health charity track?

At minimum, most funders expect a validated pre-and-post measure. PHQ-9 (depression) and GAD-7 (anxiety) are the most widely recognised. WEMWBS measures positive wellbeing and is often required by public health commissioners. CORE-OM is standard in many counselling services. Your software should support all of these.

Recommended Next Pages

• Case Management Software for Charities — a broader look at case management options across the charity sector.
• AI Case Notes for Charities — how AI-powered case notes save frontline staff over 50% of their admin time.
• Impact Reporting for Charities — how to produce compelling impact reports with less effort.
• Choosing a CRM for Your Charity — comparing CRM options for UK nonprofits.

Last updated: February 2026

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