1.5 million people with learning disabilities suffer from spending cuts

A report commissioned by the Department of Health has revealed that council cuts to learning disabilities services is leading to a reduction in the quality of service and may result in a further shortage in supply. Councils are implementing spending cuts in a manner that is adding to the “alarming” shortage of accommodation and runs the risk of putting smaller support providers out of business.

The study was put together by social care market analysts Laing and Buisson based on interviews with providers, service user representatives and local authorities. It concluded that unless the government intervened to introduce a strategy that prevented care providers from shutting down, the care system would collapse.

There is already a severe shortage of suitable housing for people with learning disabilities. The spending cuts are further leading local authorities to reduce the hours they pay for as well as the rates being paid.

William Laing, chief executive of Laing and Buisson, said: "Unless these issues are better recognised and more holistically addressed, for instance through the provision of extra funding by the Commission on Funding of Care and Support, there is an increasing likelihood that many providers will go out of business."

Laing and Buisson’s study says that the way personal budgets are currently calculated needs to be reconsidered. There should be a clear indication as to the hours of professional care people need so that the same support can be given to people with equal level of needs. The report also recommends that support plans should register the number of unpaid hours of care people receive from family and friends.

The report says that "there is a real danger that support is already, in some cases, and will increasingly be, insufficient to meet the fundamental rights and support requirements of people with learning disabilities and will jeopardise their wellbeing".

Related Information

A practice example of an “Older carers project” for carers over 60 caring for someone with learning disabilities