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We want to help autistic young people as they become adults, so that they: • can live in their communities • can find work • can get higher education, for example in university, if...
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- Foreword from The Secretary of State For Health and Social Care
- In Memory of RT Hon Dame Cheryl Gillan Dbe Mp
- Joint Ministerial Foreword
- Introduction
- Our Roadmap For The Next 5 Years
- Improving Understanding and Acceptance of Autism Within Society
- Supporting More Autistic People Into Employment
- Tackling Health and Care Inequalities For Autistic People
- Improving Support Within The Criminal and Youth Justice Systems
- Enablers For This Strategy
As a society, we’ve come a long way since the landmark 2009 Autism Act. We’ve never had a greater public awareness of hidden disabilities like autism. That awareness is increasingly reflected in how our country is run, from the NHS to local government services. Although we’ve come so far over the last decade, there must be no limit to the ambitions...
This new strategy honours and marks the contribution of Dame Cheryl Gillan, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism (APPGA), and long-standing champion for autistic people and their families. Dame Cheryl, who died in April 2021, was instrumental in tackling the inequalities autistic adults face, when, in 2009, she brought forward the P...
The introduction of the Autism Act 2009 was ground-breaking because it was the first disability-specific piece of legislation in England. Over the decade since its inception, it has resulted in improvements in support for autistic adults across the country, and greater awareness of autism in society. However, we know that more still needs to be don...
About autism
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how people perceive, communicate and interact with others, although it is important to recognise that there are differing opinions on this and not all autistic people see themselves as disabled. With an estimated 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK – approximately 1% of the population – most people probably know someone who is autistic. In addition, there are an estimated 3 million family members and carers of autistic peop...
Why a new autism strategy is needed
This document is the government’s refreshed national strategy for improving the lives of autistic people and their families and carers in England. It builds on and replaces the preceding adult autism strategy, Think Autism, which was published in April 2014 and related to adults. It extends the scope of the strategy to children and young people for the first time, in recognition of the importance of ensuring that they are diagnosed and receive the right support as early as possible and across...
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
This strategy takes into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on autistic people and their families’ lives, as we know this has been very challenging for many. In summer 2020, we commissioned the Policy Innovation and Evaluation Research Unit (London School of Economics) to undertake rapid research to improve our understanding of autistic people’s experiences during this time, and our ability to respond appropriately. The final report from this rapid research is published alongside thi...
How we will make our vision a reality
Below, we set out our vision for what we want autistic people and their families’ lives to be like in 2026 across 6 priority areas, and the steps we as national and local government, the NHS and others will take towards this within the first year of our implementation plan (2021 to 2022). We will refresh this implementation plan for subsequent years of the strategy, setting out further actions we will take across government, working in partnership with local authorities, the NHS and the volun...
Our vision
Since the inception of the Autism Act (2009), awareness of autism has increased substantially, with the National Autistic Society estimating that 99.5% of the public are now aware of autism. There are many reasons for this, including increasing representation of autism in public life and the media, as well as the Autism Act itself, as this raised the profile of autism both locally and at a national level. While this is an important change, evidence from the APPGA’s The Autism Act, 10 Years On...
Our commitments in the first year
In the first year, our key commitments will be to: 1. develop and test an autism public understanding and acceptance initiative, working with autistic people and their families, and the voluntary sector 2. continue to promote our disability equality training package for transport operators 3. resume the ‘it’s everyone’s journey’ campaign to create a more inclusive and supportive public transport environment for disabled people The full list of actions we are taking in 2021 to 2022 is set out...
Our vision
Evidence shows that there is currently a significant employment gap for autistic people. Data published by the Office for National Statistics for the first time in February 2021 shows that as of December 2020, 22% of autistic people aged 16 to 64 are in employment, in contrast to 52% of disabled people, and 81% of non-disabled people. The APPGA’s The Autism Act, Ten Years Onreport found that there are many factors contributing to the scale of this gap, including struggling to get a job becaus...
How we will work towards this in 2021 to 2022
In the first year of the strategy, we will drive improved employer awareness of autism, so they better understand the benefits of employing autistic people and are able to make the adjustments needed to recruit and properly support them. We will also continue to promote better access to employment support programmes for autistic people and move forward with our plans to improve the benefits system for disabled people to ensure this better supports autistic people who are unable to work. As we...
Our commitments in the first year
In the first year, our key commitments will be to: 1. continue our work to ensure our Jobcentre network is welcoming and supportive to autistic customers, developing and testing new approaches through our Health Model Offices 2. continue to ensure that through the Disability Confident Scheme, we promote the skills and abilities of autistic people, and signpost employers to resources on supporting autistic people 3. continue to promote employment support programmes, including Access to Work an...
Our vision
Receiving a timely autism diagnosis is vital in getting the right support and helping autistic people and those supporting them to better understand their needs. While many more adults are receiving a diagnosis than when the first autism strategy was published over 10 years ago (Autism Self-Assessment Exercise), too many people are still waiting longer than the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended 13 weeks between referral and first assessment. Autism Waiting T...
How we will work towards this in 2021 to 2022
We will work towards our vision by tackling long diagnosis waiting times for children and young people, as well as adults. In 2021 to 2022, funding will help regions to begin innovating and improving the quality of diagnostic pathways and post-diagnostic support. This will enable us to find ways of addressing backlogs from the pandemic and proactively identify children and young people who are on waiting lists and are at risk of falling into crisis. To enable autistic children and young peopl...
Our commitments in the first year
In the first year, our key commitments will be to: 1. invest £10.5 million to test and implement the most effective ways to reduce diagnosis waiting times for children and young people, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on waiting lists, and proactively identify those who are waiting for an assessment and are at risk of crisis 2. invest £2.5 million of funding to improve the quality of adult diagnostic and post-diagnostic pathways, and help to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on...
Our vision
Available evidence indicates that autistic people may be over-represented as people who come into contact with the criminal and youth justice systems, as victims, witnesses or defendants. However, we know from the APPGA inquiry that they often have poor experiences when they come into contact with these systems. There are many reasons for this, including poor understanding of autism among professionals as well as challenges with getting adjustments they need to engage in processes. This lack...
How we will work towards this in 2021 to 2022
In the first year of the strategy, we will develop a better view of existing provision for neurodivergent adults, including autistic adults, through our call for evidence on neurodiversity in the criminal justice system. This is being led by HM Inspectorates of Prisons and Probation, with support from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and will provide us with a better understanding of the improvements we need to make. We will take a number of steps this year to improv...
Our commitments in the first year
In the first year, our key commitments will be to: 1. review the call for evidence on neurodiversity in the criminal justice system, and begin the development of a toolkit to educate frontline staff about neurodiversity, and the additional support people might need 2. introduce the new Custody and Detention apprenticeship, which includes a dedicated autism session, to be undertaken by all new prison officers and youth custodial specialists in England and Wales 3. conduct research as part of a...
Improving research, innovation and examples of best practice
While autism research has developed over the last 6 years, there are still notable evidence gaps related to autism policy and practice, and the provision of services for autistic people. The research charity Autistica has reported on research investment and research priorities in the UK. It has found that the balance of research investment has been on the basic science underlying physiological mechanisms of autism, and that there has been a relative lack of research on producing evidence on t...
Improved data collection and reporting to drive system improvement
Over the next 5 years, we want to improve the collection and quality of data on autism used across public services to better support the needs of autistic people and their families. Autistic people interact with a range of mainstream and specialist services across systems, such as health and social care, education and employment, and there are still gaps in data across these areas. There have been significant improvements in autism reporting in recent years, including the introduction of auti...
Strengthened governance, leadership and accountability
To ensure the actions set out in our implementation plans are delivered and make a real difference to people’s lives, we will refresh our governance structure for this strategy and develop specific measures of success for each of the actions we are committing to as part of this. DHSC, in partnership with the Department for Education, will establish a refreshed national Executive Group to monitor the delivery of the actions set out in the implementation plan, and hold action owners to account...
Vaccines do help to protect you and your child from many serious and potentially deadly diseases. protect other people in your family and community – by helping to stop diseases spreading to people who cannot have vaccines, such as babies too young to be vaccinated and those who are too ill to be vaccinated
- The strategy outlines the Government’s plans to improve your services and support. This covers mental health, diagnosis, employment, education, public understanding and the justice system.
- This strategy has more money than any of the other previous strategies, but it really needs social care to be fixed too. One of the biggest flaws in previous versions of the autism strategy was the lack of money to make change happen.
- It’s the first autism strategy to include children. Previous strategies have focused only on autistic adults. The National Autistic Society successfully campaigned for this strategy to include children and young people.
- The commitments are only until 2022. Although the strategy is supposed to cover five years, the commitments in this new strategy only take us up to 2022.
Jul 21, 2021 · The government’s national strategy for improving the lives of autistic people and their families and carers in England, and implementation plan for 2021 to 2022.
- Department of Health And Social Care
young person should have a vaccine • prepare a young person for a vaccine • know what to do on the day of a vaccination appointment. For any specific concerns about your child, or the young person you care for, please contact your GP surgery as they can help advise on your individual concern.
Jul 23, 2021 · Improving autistic children and young people’s access to education, and supporting positive transitions into adulthood. For the SEND system to enable autistic children and young people to...
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