Autism Alliance brings forward solutions for next Government

Our new campaign, Doing the Right Thing, launched in April 2024 and looks ahead at what a new government could do now to improve the lives of autistic people and their families.

In Real Change for Autistic People and their Families, the Autism Alliance made a simple point. Despite dedicated legislation, successive Government strategies and many commitments, outcomes for autistic people are not improving as they should: we are not seeing real change. This is because Government policy has focused on short term initiatives and guidance, rather than addressing the system-level barriers that hold back progress.

The report set out a manifesto for change, calling for a dedicated programme at the heart of Government working across education, healthcare, employment and justice to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities.

By early 2025 there will be a new Government, with the chance to engage with system-level reform. But whoever crosses the threshold of 10 Downing Street will face a considerable challenge: public services at breaking point, severely constrained spending, and increasing global instability.

This is why it is vitally important to bring forward solutions. System-level problems can appear intractable, particularly when crisis management is occupying time and resource. The next Government will need ideas, and energy, and support, to take the vital steps towards real reform.

In our new report Doing the Right Thing, we set out a range of solutions: deliverable policy proposals that an incoming Government could implement immediately. These focus on two of the three underpinning enablers of real change for autistic people and their families: strong accountability, and culture change – recognising that the third pillar of change, funding reform, vital as it is, will take more time.

The proposals we put forward are designed both to signal intent, and to have genuine impact in the short term. They reflect the input of autistic people and their families, and the ground level experience of specialist autism charities. And they could be adopted by Governments in all parts of the UK.

Two proposals in particular could have a positive impact on autistic people’s outcomes while also creating energy for system-level change.

• A Commissioner for Autistic People. Despite clear legal duties on local commissioners, there is overwhelming evidence that autistic children, young people and adults do not get the services and support they need to thrive and live their lives in their communities. After years of sustained underfunding across the public sector, not meeting the law has become normalised, and a Commissioner would play a vital role by making these failures visible and holding the Government and public bodies to account.

• Mandatory autism training across all public services. Although awareness of autism has never been higher, we continue to see widespread misunderstanding and an unsupportive culture, fuelled by continuing stigma and discrimination. This contributes to poorer outcomes for autistic people and their families. Building on current models such as the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in health and social care, mandatory autism training across all public services would focus on supporting embedded changes in culture, by building understanding of autism and challenging stereotyping and entrenched attitudes.

These, and other proposals in the report are set out for politicians and policymakers to discuss, and ideally to adopt. Alongside these short term solutions, the next Government would then need to engage with longer term reform in order to achieve real change – and key to this is to understand the case for prioritising autism within policy.

• Firstly, autistic people represent a significant proportion of the population, between 1% and 2%, and face some of the poorest outcomes and greatest inequalities of any group in society across health, education and employment, even when compared to other marginalised groups. From a first principles perspective, delivering better outcomes for autistic people should be a priority.

• Secondly, there is a clear economic case to prioritise autism, alongside the overwhelming case in human rights. As well as reducing spend on costly crisis services across the NHS by investing first time in the right community support, the potential gains from including autistic people’s strengths and skills in the workforce are considerable, together with the contribution of more parents/carers of autistic people being able to work. The Autism Alliance expects shortly to release new research setting out the economic basis for improving autistic people’s lives, and the wide ranging benefits this will bring.

• Finally, a system of education, health and care that worked for autistic people and their families would improve outcomes for everyone, because the principles are principles we would all sign up to for ourselves: acknowledging and celebrating difference, meeting need, and providing the right support first time.

On all counts, there is a strong case to put autistic people’s voices at the heart of policy thinking. Their experiences are a vital test of whether the system is working, and can help shape progress towards a model of public services that is ultimately more impactful and more cost effective.

Wider reform will take vision and commitment from Government. It may be prompted by external events: the increasing rate at which local authorities are declaring bankruptcy shows that the system is reaching a tipping point. But even so, pushing through system-level change will take time.

In the meantime, it is vital that the Government takes practical steps which begin to have a tangible impact on the lives of autistic people and their families. The Autism Alliance is ready to work with all political parties, and with the next Government, to scope and deliver this work.

To find out more, visit our Doing the Right Thing campaign page.