Learning Disability Week: the top issues we should be discussing

Learning Disability Week should highlight the achievements and strengths of our amazing learning disability community. It also provides an important opportunity to reflect on the key issues stemming from barriers in society, services, and environments.

People with a learning disability aspire to live independent, fulfilling lives and to participate fully in society, where they are treated as equals and have the same opportunity to lead a happy and healthy life.

So, what are the current and longstanding challenges we face in improving care and support for people with learning disabilities across healthcare, employment, and social services?

Healthcare for people with a learning disability

People with learning disabilities often experience poorer physical and mental health than the general population. This is why the LeDeR (Learning Disability Mortality Review) programme, led by NHS England and examining the lives and deaths of people with a learning disability, is so essential. However, LeDeR researchers had to apologise earlier this year when the already-late 2023 report was republished due to technical issues with the supplied data.

The latest report shows that 40.2% of deaths in 2023 were due to avoidable causes, up from the previously reported 38.8%. The researchers say this highlights the significant work still needed to address premature deaths among people with a learning disability.

This raises the question of whether the millions of pounds spent on the LeDeR would be better invested in helping people with learning disabilities lead healthier lives. For example, would resources be better spent training and employing specialist learning disability nurses, who are ideally placed to help people with learning disabilities access mainstream health services, or on ensuring greater uptake of annual health checks?

Or perhaps investment in health technology that enables people with a learning disability or their carers to check, record, and question their key health needs and data.

Declining number of learning disability nurses

A new report this week from the Royal College of Nursing calls for immediate action to protect the future of the learning disability nursing profession. Staffing levels are down by a third, and demand for their services remains high.

Learning disability nurses are uniquely trained to meet the complex health needs of this population. Yet, at the very moment their expertise is most needed, their numbers are falling fast. The number of students choosing the specialism across the UK had fallen to fewer than 500 in 2025. In some regions, no university offers learning disability nursing at all.

In a recent article, Baroness Rosa Monckton et al said that if this trajectory continues, the entire profession could vanish within a decade. They added that this decline is not just alarming for patients — it undermines key national strategies. It threatens the promises made in the NHS Long Term Plan, the Equality Act, and the government’s commitment to inclusive workforce development.

They have called for a Government-supported plan that protects and expands learning disability nursing education, delivers a National Apprenticeship Strategy, includes RNLDs in workforce planning, establishes national governance and leadership, and introduces a Learning Disability Act to enshrine access to learning disability nursing-led care in law.

Welfare reform and Timms Review

Last year, the Government reformed the benefits system by introducing changes to the Universal Credit (UC) standard allowance and amending the disability elements for new claimants under the Universal Credit Act.

The aim was to unlock economic growth by saving £5 billion by 2030 and creating employment opportunities for future generations, with £1 billion in employment support measures to help disabled and long-term sick people return to work.

Following an outcry from disabled groups, the UK Government made some important concessions, including postponing PIP reform until at least 2026 to give disabled individuals and those with long-term health conditions the chance to share their views on how PIP should be reformed.

PIP is a non-means-tested benefit that helps disabled people cover extra costs of independent living, whether they are in work or not. It supports nearly four million people in England and Wales.

The Review is co-chaired by Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability; Sharron Brennan; and Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE. It is seeking evidence on

• How effectively PIP is delivering on its intended purpose
• Whether the PIP assessment provides fair access to the right support
• Whether the experience of claiming PIP varies for different groups
• How have the changes in the workplace and wider society since 2013 impacted PIP?

The final report is due to be published later this year.

The disability employment gap

Many people with learning disabilities face barriers in education and employment. Just this week, Mencap published a survey showing that although 80% of employers believe people with a learning disability can be productive at work, 48% do not employ them.

The reasons were more fear of ‘getting it wrong’ and a lack of confidence in reasonable adjustments among employers, rather than financial pressures.

Hft said that there is a “city ’s-worth of talent” being needlessly shut out of the job market, with at least 300,000 adults with learning disabilities who want to work but are being denied a chance. As of May 2026, there were over 700,000 job vacancies in the UK, yet a vast pool of available talent is being ignored.

It comes as an independent review, led by former Health Minister Alan Milburn, into young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), which warned of a “lost generation”. It also recognised the failure of government and employers to remove the barriers that young disabled people face when seeking and retaining employment.

SEND reform and the future of legal rights

After months of debate over the future of education, health, and care plans (EHCPs), the Government recently published its schools white paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving.

It includes ambitious plans to make mainstream education more inclusive, introduce additional layers of support, increase the number of inclusion bases in schools, and improve access to speech therapists and educational psychologists through an ‘expert at hand’ offer.

 

However, legal experts warn that the Government’s proposed SEND reforms could create an unenforceable system, leaving more children without appropriate provision. They argue that, contrary to ministers’ portrayal of a “realisation of children’s rights,” the proposals will render EHCPs unrecognisable and make the system even more adversarial.

In addition, local authority councils are reporting a “very significant surge” in demand for EHCP assessments, as parents seek to secure an EHCP before the new SEND legislation takes effect in 2029 and a new tiered system is introduced.

The National Autistic Society also published a new survey that found almost two-thirds of school staff are concerned about keeping children with SEND safe at school due to a lack of capacity and resources. More than eight in ten (85%) also felt that their views on SEND reform were neither heard nor valued by the Government.

Mental Health Bill and learning disability

The Mental Health Act received Royal Assent at the end of last year and includes reforms to end the inappropriate detention of people with learning disabilities and autistic people, to improve patient rights, and to address historical inequalities.

The latest statistics show that over 2,000 people with a learning disability and autistic people remain locked away. Nearly half (49%) of people with learning disabilities currently in hospital have been there for five or more years. This is often due to a lack of suitable housing and adequate community support.

Many are placed miles away from family and friends, in settings that are entirely unsuitable to their needs. In the past decade, there have also been increasing reports of abuse, overmedication, seclusion, and the use of unnecessary restraint in these units.

Although changes to the Mental Health Act are a positive move, campaigners still believe that the barriers to diagnosis, care and support are the issue, especially as the right community support is much cheaper than keeping people in detention centres for long periods of time.

Dr Wendy Taylor MBE, chair of the Local Government Association’s Health and Wellbeing Committee, recently said that success will depend on: “addressing gaps in early clinical support, acknowledging and reducing inequalities in access to community therapies and treatments, and addressing skills gaps in the social care workforce in relation to recovery and enablement approaches.”

Social care is still neglected

Social care reform was kicked into the long grass by the current Government, which is awaiting the findings of an independent commission headed by Baroness Louise Casey. The commission says its findings will set out a vision for adult social care, including recommended measures and a roadmap for delivery, with the aim of creating a National Care Service underpinned by national standards and delivering consistent care nationwide.

The first phase, to be reported in mid-2026, will identify the critical issues facing adult social care and recommend medium-term reforms and improvements. The second phase, to be reported by 2028, will provide longer-term recommendations to transform adult social care.

In March, Baroness Casey, speaking at the Nuffield Trust Summit, said that the system was designed for a very different age and was held together with “add-ons and workarounds, sticking plasters and glue”.

She said too many families are navigating an underfunded, ‘cobbled together’ social care system that lacks ownership and accountability. She called for a national reckoning equivalent to Beveridge’s 1948 reforms, as social care has never had its own creation moment, when the nation decided what it was for, what people should expect, who should pay, and how.

Last year, a Health and Social Care Committee Inquiry sought to understand the cost of successive governments presenting reform ideas for adult social care without implementing them. It found that taxpayers are currently paying £32 billion a year for a broken system, and that the government needs a robust financial case for reforms to prevent users from continuing to suffer under the current unsustainable system.

 

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This is just a snapshot of the current issues affecting people with learning disabilities. To find out more, please visit our debate section.