Learning Disability Coalition

Launch of the Learning Disability Coalition

16 May 2007

A coalition of leading disability charities, which launches today, 16 May, 2007, is calling for improved funding and better services to improve the lives of people with a learning disability.

The Learning Disability Coalition will provide a united voice in the fight for enough public funding to give people with a learning disability the same opportunities and choices as other people across the U.K.

The coalition believes the Government has an excellent vision for people with a learning disability but cuts to services are getting worse because of financial pressures on local councils.

Members of the coalition, which include:

The Association for Real Change, British Institute of Learning Disabilities, Down's Syndrome Association, Mencap, Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities, National Forum for People with Learning Difficulties, People First ( self-advocacy), Sense, Turning Point and United Response are receiving more and more complaints as local authorities squeeze their budgets.

Commenting on the launch of the coalition, Dame Jo Williams, chief executive of Mencap and chairman of the coalition, said:

"These cuts are having an alarming impact on the lives of people with a learning disability and their families. We need to make sure that the Government's admirable policies are not just words. Rhetoric must be turned into reality."

Although the group’s members recognise that spending on social care for people with a learning disability may have increased by 7.2 per cent in real terms, they feel it has not kept pace with the growth in demand.

What's more, they say there is an alarming lack of information about what is happening on the ground, the consistency in services and how changes in society are affecting people with a learning disability.

The coalition is therefore gathering evidence on cuts to services. It wants local and central government to make sure there is sufficient funding to meet the needs of people with a learning disability, and fulfil their human rights.

The group is also calling for a strategic review, similar to those conducted by Sir Derek Wanless, to assess the social, economic, health and funding needs that impact on the services needed by people with a learning disability. The review also needs to reflect the policy objectives set out in Valuing People and Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People.

Andrew Lee, Director of People First, says:

"We are hearing about cuts to services up and down the country while too few people are actually getting the things that the White Paper talked about like person centred plans and free health checks."

Steve Inch, Chairman of the Association for Real Change, added:

"There is the danger of disillusionment in that fine sounding promises and a really great policy will be seen as failing because of lack of money."