Report: Numbers of autistic adults receiving social care in England
This year, for the first time, every council in England has statistics on record about the number of autistic adults using its social care services.
Councils have to report each year on the needs of those they support, and this data is collected across England. The 2014-15 data, published this week, shows that, in total, 17,000 autistic adults have been recorded as using the services.
The collection of this data was a central ask of The National Autistic Society’s Push for Action campaign. If local authorities know how many people they support are on the autism spectrum, they can much better recognise and address their needs and improve their services.
However, the number of autistic adults recorded as using social care services in this publication is noticeably low, at just 17,000 out of an estimated total of 460,000 autistic adults in England.
The NAS are concerned that the data does not yet give an accurate picture and that many autistic adults are not yet being properly recorded. They are calling for Councils to make sure that they are recording data accurately and expect to see increasing numbers of people recorded in the coming years.
Sarah Lambert, Head of Policy at the NAS, described the reporting of this data as “a milestone in the long battle to improve autism services”. She said: “It is vital that local authorities make sure that they are accurately recording all the autistic adults they support, as this will help them plan and improve services. More widely, central and local government must start recording the numbers of all people diagnosed with autism so they can meet their changing needs, from birth to old age.”
