Stronger, Louder, Together!
NHS England has announced that the 2023 LeDeR report is being withdrawn and will be republished in January 2026.
LeDeR stands for Learning from Lives and Deaths of People with a Learning Disability and Autistic People.
It looks at why people with a learning disability or autistic people die earlier than others and what can be learned to stop this happening.
An update for members from Sam Clark – Chief Executive at Learning Disability England.
In the last week, I went to two of the Casey Commission’s evidence sessions to speak up for members.
This was unusual for Learning Disability England. Normally, members would take part themselves, but the Commission said only one person could attend.
The Rep Body Co-chairs and I agreed that I would go and represent all three voice groups.
The Down Syndrome Act 2022 is a law that means the government has to write clear guidance for public services like health, social care, and education on how to meet the specific needs of people with Down syndrome in England.
The Down Syndrome Association estimates there are 40,000 people with Down syndrome in the UK.
The government has now launched a draft of this statutory guidance and a public consultation to get feedback.
You can read the draft guidance here.
Learning Disability England is looking to appoint an Administration Lead to join the staff team.
This role is an important part of the organisation’s daily work. It includes leading the administration of memberships and finances, and supporting other team members with projects and events.
This notice is to announce the Learning Disability England Annual Members General Meeting for 2025.
Where
The meeting will be online over Zoom.
Responding to new report on the state of the adult social care workforce in England…
The State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce in England annual report from Skills for Care shares information about the people who work in adult social care – how many there are, what jobs they do, and the challenges employers are facing.
The report for 2025 has just been published, read here.
It shows that the number of jobs in social care is growing and that the number of vacant posts has fallen to 7%.
That is still high though compared to other kinds of jobs like working in a shop.
The report also showed what many people already know, which is that lots of people are leaving their jobs – this can range from 42% turnover in some organisations to 14.5% in others.
Kate Green, Member of Learning Disability England, was recently invited to be part of the Transplant Games and shares her experience in this new blog…
Going to the Transplant Games was an amazing experience. It’s a bit like the Olympics, with sports like archery, track events, volleyball, and squash.
People from different transplant centres across the UK come together to take part.
The LeDeR report for 2023, published just yesterday, shows that people with learning disabilities and autistic people are still dying far too young – on average 20 years earlier than other people.
Other key findings from the report:
Learning Disability England representative body members have responded to findings of the report:
Clear, accessible communication is important for everyone when using health and care services.
As Gary Bourlet, Self-advocate and Membership and Engagement Lead says:
“Everyone with learning disability should be able to understand what is being said, by doing this it empowers us and gives us independence.”
For people with learning disabilities, autism, sensory impairments, or communication needs, having information in the right format can make a big difference to how they understand and manage their health and care.
To try and help with this, there is a set of rules called the Accessible Information Standard (AIS).
This standard is used by NHS and adult social care services in England.
Gary Bourlet and Rachael Hall from Learning Disability England, attended Festibility last month, ‘Kent’s best accessible Music Festival’, to spread the Good Lives word and encourage others to join the movement. They share how it went in this latest blog…
FestAbility is more than just a music festival – it’s a celebration of joy, inclusion and community.
Held in Kent and set up by two incredible family members, Debs and Vanessa, FestAbility is designed to be fully accessible and welcoming for disabled people of all ages.