Co-Producing a Lifelong Action Plan

Background

Nearly 13 years since the Winterbourne View scandal was exposed, and over 20 since Valuing People was published, there has been too little change to the lives of many children and adults with a learning disability and their families. Successive governments have published plans and reports that aim to improve the lives of people with a learning disability, to ensure that they can exercise their human rights to live in their own homes, in their local community, with the right support for them and the people who love them – but these plans haven’t translated into the change everyone wanted to see. 

We are a group of people and organisations that have come together to identify what the barriers are that are currently stopping children, young people and adults with a learning disability from living good lives in their local communities – and what actions are needed to overcome these. Working together, people with a learning disability, family carers, and people working from across all different parts of the system have co-produced a list of actions that we know will have a real impact. 

The barriers are complex, but they are not impossible to overcome. What we need is clear political leadership, a willingness to think creatively, and resources to act on the big issues. Alongside this, there are things we can do in our everyday lives and practice that will make a big difference – and we can start doing these now. Working together in a co-ordinated way to common goals can drive real change. 

About the plan

• ‘Actions for Policy Makers’ sets out the actions policy-makers at local, regional, and national levels should take – and why these actions will make a difference 
• ‘Actions for CB-NSG Members and Individuals’ sets out what actions we are taking, including updates on progress 

Actions for Policy Makers

Actions for CB-NSG Members and Individuals

Principles

This plan is built on several core principles, that run throughout the issues and actions. These are: 

• Interconnectedness – these issues are not separate, they are connected and many are interdependent and for any solution to be successful this needs to be taken into account 
• Lived experience and co-production – listening to people with a learning disability, their families, and the people that support them, about what the issues are – and working with them as equal and valued partners to identify what is needed to fix them 
• A lifelong approach – looking at the whole of the person the whole of their life and what is important to and for them 
• Focused actions – the actions should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound), with accountability, monitoring, and evaluation 
• Belief in collective strength – we can achieve more if we work together

Get involved 

This plan is a living document – it can be updated over time, as progress is made and as people take action. If new issues emerge, these can be incorporated, and solutions can be co-produced. 

If you are a person with a learning disability, a family carer, a collective, organisation, or someone working elsewhere in the system, and you want to know more about this plan and how to get involved in developing and delivering it, please email actionplan@thecbf.org.uk