Background
We know that for people with a learning disability, appropriate accommodation has a strong impact on their safety and overall quality of life, while also reducing social exclusion. However, many people with a learning disability do not have a choice about where they live or who they live with.
As part of the Transforming Care Programme, NHS England, the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services set out a commitment to significantly increase housing options for people with a learning disability in the Building the right home document. Enabling people to access the right home and support at the right time will also help to reduce overall inpatient capacity. NHS England made £100 million available between 2016 and 2021 to support this programme of work.
The proportion of adults aged 18-64 in England who received long-term support during the year for a learning disability and lived in their own home or with their family, increased from 74% in 2014/15 to 79% in 2021/22. Between 2020/21 and 2021/22, the number of adults with a learning disability who were living in their own home or with their family decreased slightly from 104,624 to 104,430, despite the proportion increasing from 78% to 79%. This is because the denominator – the number of adults who received long-term support during the year for a learning disability – decreased from 133,658 to 132,450.
About this data
This indicator uses data from outcome measure 1G of NHS Digital's Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF). The measure shows the proportion of all adults (aged 18-64) whose primary support reason is learning disability support, who are ‘known to the council’, and who are recorded as living in their own home or with their family.
The definition of individuals ‘known to the council’ is that they are adults of working age with a primary support reason of learning disability support who have received long-term support during the year.
‘Living on their own or with their family’ is intended to describe arrangements where the individual has security of tenure in their usual accommodation – for instance, because they own the residence or are part of a household whose head holds such security.
Prior to 2014/15, all adults with learning disabilities who were known to the council were included. In 2014/15 the eligible population was changed to include only those clients who have received a long-term service in the reporting year and have a primary support reason of learning disability support.
Data for this indicator is collected from each local authority. In 2020/21 Hackney Council did not submit their data because of a cyber-attack. To ensure 2020/21 data is comparable with previous years, NHS Digital calculated the aggregate totals using 2019/20 data from Hackney Council. Further details can be found in the Adult Social Care Activity and Finance data quality report.
For more information, please see the Adult social care outcomes framework: handbook of definitions.