What do the latest statistics say about social care and adults with learning disabilities? 8 key messages (and 0 graphs)

Every year NHS Digital (now absorbed into NHS England) publish statistics collected by councils related to social care and adults with learning disabilities in England. Data tables for 2022-2023 were released on 19th October. Rather than inflict my usual graphalanche, here are 8 things that jumped out at me:

1) Since 2019/20 the number of adults with learning disabilities getting social care support has stalled. In 2022/23, 152,175 adults with learning disabilities got social care support at some point in the year, less than the 153,145 people getting social care support in 2019/20. 

2) Using projections about the increasing number of adults likely to need social care support from 2014/15 to 2022/23, there are between 14,000 and 22,000 adults with learning disabilities who need social care support but are not getting it.

3) While the number of adults with learning disabilities aged 18-64 living in residential care and nursing care continues to decrease, the number of adults with learning disabilities aged 65+ living in residential care and nursing care has been increasing from 2020/21 to 2022/23.

4) 49,145 adults with learning disabilities aged 18-64 getting social care support were living with family (or friends) on a settled basis in 2022/23 - well over a third (37%) of all working age adults with learning disabilities getting social care support.

5) Council spending on social care for adults with learning disabilities was £6.3 billion in 2022/23, which might be keeping pace with or even outstripping inflation.

6) Council spending on social care for adults with learning disabilities is almost one third (32%) of all council social care spending.

7) For the first time in 2022/23, over half a billion pounds in social care spending (£513 million) for adults with learning disabilities was paid for by 'client contributions'. This is 8% of all council social care spending for adults with learning disabilities.

8) Among working age adults with learning disabilities getting council social care, the rate of people in any form of paid employment remained at 4.8% in 2022/23, a historic low, with the gender employment gap also remaining (5.2% for men; 4% for women).

There is much more in the statistics (and I have updated my graph stash), but I see no signs of 'recovery' or 'building back better' here.