Learning disability and autism support services are firmly in crisis, with services at the point of collapse, according to the latest ARC England Fee Rate Maps.
The Fee Maps contain seven years of data, including updated 2024-25 data and show that in addition to year-on-year underfunding, average fee rate uplifts do not come close to covering the additional costs employers have to meet following the Chancellor’s 2023 Autumn Budget.
ARC says this leaves people with a learning disability and autistic people without the essential support they need to live safe, dignified lives of choice and control.
It has called for 12% to cover just the impact of the autumn 2023 Budget, without other inflationary costs, as the average fee rate uplifts by service type fall significantly short:
This means some ARC members are now refusing to accept new packages of care, handing back existing packages of care that are costing them too much to deliver, and using reserves that they have a legal duty to preserve to ensure that they can continue to support people.
ARC England Director Clive Parry: “The state has a duty to provide the services that we have analysed and it is time for central government and councils to stop passing the buck between them and for the state to pay for the services it is required to provide and on which people with a learning disability and autistic people and their families depend.
“DHSC colleagues have told us they are hearing us. What we want to understand is: what is the plan for dealing with the crisis?
“With the Chancellor’s Spring Statement confirming benefit/welfare cuts that will affect so many disabled people, including the people supported by our members, ARC England’s position is that making already poor people worse off will do nothing to improve their lives and prospects or the economy of the country. We understand the financial pressures facing the country and we understand the geopolitical changes that are happening, but we think there are fairer, better and more humane ways to balance the books.”
The Fee Maps are searchable by local authority and by constituency. Average fee rates for each area and service have also been added, accessible from a drop-down menu above the map:
ARC added that their members are also saying that, where they work with more than one Local Authority, they are seeing an increase in occasions when one council is not paying fully for the services it is commissioning and is therefore being subsidised by other authorities. This is in breach of the legal duties councils need to adhere to.
Public bodies must also be aware of their statutory duties contained in other legislation, such as the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010, as well as the best value obligation contained in the Local Government Act 1999.
Recover your password.
A password will be e-mailed to you.
