Edel Harris, Chief Executive of the learning disability charity Mencap, said:
“There’s a lot to like in ‘People at the Heart of Care’ which sets out a clear, person centred vision for our future care system. The emphasis on personalisation, fairness and choice; recognition of rising unmet need; and focus on working age disabled adults and, in particular, people with a learning disability, are all evident here. We are also pleased to see measures to strengthen links with housing, reform Local Authority commissioning and make navigating the system easier.
“However, although the £1.7 billion sounds like a lot, very little of it will find its way to the people who use and give care every day. There is a significant amount of work still to do so that people with a learning disability get the right support now. We are facing a very tough winter, with many people not getting the care they need and not enough care workers to help them. We urgently need some solutions now or there will be no social care system to fix in the future.”
The whitepaper can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/people-at-the-heart-of-care-adult-social-care-reform-white-paper
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For further information or to arrange an interview with a Mencap spokesperson or case study, please contact Mencap’s media team on: media@mencap.org.uk or 020 7696 5414 (including out of hours).
Notes to editors:
About Mencap
There are approximately 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK. Mencap works to support people with a learning disability, their families and carers by fighting to change laws, improve services and access to education, employment and leisure facilities. Mencap supports thousands of people with a learning disability to live their lives the way they want: www.mencap.org.uk
For advice and information about learning disability and Mencap services in your area, contact Mencap’s Freephone Learning Disability Helpline on 0808 808 1111 (10am-3pm, Monday-Friday) or email helpline@mencap.org.uk.
What is a learning disability?
- A learning disability is a reduced intellectual ability which can cause problems with everyday tasks – for example shopping and cooking, or travelling to new places – which affects someone for their whole life;
- Learning disability is NOT a mental illness or a learning difficulty, such as dyslexia. Very often the term ‘learning difficulty’ is wrongly used interchangeably with ‘learning disability’;
- People with a learning disability can take longer to learn new things and may need support to develop new skills, understand difficult information and engage with other people. The level of support someone needs is different with every individual. For example, someone with a severe learning disability might need much more support with daily tasks than someone with a mild learning disability.