Actions for Policy Makers

There is a wealth of evidence about how to support people with a learning disability whose behaviour challenges in the community. This page is for policy makers – setting out what needs to be done to get it right.

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Working together and building on years of evidence, reports and recommendations, we have co-produced a list of actions that would make a real difference to children, young people and adults with a learning disability.

As part of this, we worked to identify some headline actions. Many of these headline actions build on work that is already ongoing – what we need now is the political will to extend, invest, expand, and embed these throughout the system.

Headline actions

Make sure all children with a learning disability have early access to communication and behavioural support

Expand the keyworking scheme so that all children and young people 0-25 with a learning disability have access to a named, skilled keyworker

Introduce a Named Social Worker for all children, young people and adults with a learning disability – expanding on the 2018 pilot

Develop community-based alternative accommodation that can be used to prevent people being inappropriately admitted to inpatient units

Expand the Small Supports scheme which helps to develop small-scale, community-based, person-centred support

Extend eviction notice periods for rented housing and residential care from 28 days to three months

Ensure every area has a 24/7 specialist support team who can step in to support people with a learning disability on a dynamic support register if they require additional support

Ring-fenced funding for developing housing for people with a learning disability available at local authority level (based on current and future housing needs analysis)

Monitor how much each ICB is spending, per person, on a) inpatient placements, and b) community settings, broken down by in-area vs out-of-area and the type of community setting (e.g. independent living, supported living, residential care, etc)

Ensure that all children and adults with a learning disability have access to skilled, high-quality, independent advocacy that is long term, not issue based – including non-instructed advocacy

Investment in families so they have timely access to clear information and support to meet the needs of the family (including about what is possible, not just what is currently available)

Ensure there are skilled learning disability commissioners to drive the proactive development of lifelong, bespoke, community person-centred services and support, including involvement in market-shaping where these services do not currently exist

Download a PDF of the headline actions here:

Headline Actions

A live, evolving action plan

The actions that have been co-produced build on years of previous work and recommendations, and reflect the knowledge and experience of people with a learning disability, family carers, and people working all parts of the system. They are not a complete and comprehensive list, but they are actions that will make a real difference to the lives of children, young people and adults with a learning disability, supporting them to live good lives, in their local communities, with the right support in the right place at the right time.

This is a live, evolving action plan; it will be changed and updated as situations change and progress is made. We want this plan to remain relevant, and are committed to updating it when needed. While the underlying principles will remain the same, the actions needed to achieve these may change over time, as policies, practice, and knowledge changes.

See below for more detail on the actions needed to support children, young people and adults with a learning disability, throughout their lives.

A Skilled, Supported Workforce

Person-Centred Support

Rights

Supporting Families

Transition to Adulthood

Download a PDF of all of these actions here:

Co-Producing a Lifelong Action Plan

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Next steps

As a collective, we are working on developing a list of asks and actions, based on lived experience, evidence, and good practice, that will help support people with a learning disability to access the right support in education and work and leisure. These will be added as they are co-produced – if you are keen to be part of co-producing these actions, please email actionplan@thecbf.org.uk

This is a ‘living action plan’, that builds on years of previous work and recommendations. The actions that need to be taken are likely to change over time – this plan will be updated as situations change and progress is made. If you have any questions, please email actionplan@thecbf.org.uk