Learn about the data
Data used in the forecasts
The forecasts bring together information from adult social care and related welfare services. Each dataset describes a different group of people with a learning disability.- 5government datasets
- 146local authority areas
- 9English regions
- 2018–2025recorded data
Understanding the data
The datasets were selected following an analysis of the welfare services that people with a learning disability may use during childhood and adulthood. They make it possible to examine recorded trends at national, regional and local authority level. Each dataset has its own purpose, eligibility rules, age range and way of recording learning disability. The figures therefore describe the people identified by each service. They do not provide a complete measure of everyone with a learning disability.
The same person may appear in more than one dataset. The figures should not be added together to produce a total population.
The five data sources
The descriptions below explain where each dataset comes from and what its figures represent.Adult social care
Source: NHS England’s Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report.
The figures represent adults receiving long-term adult social care whose main reason for receiving support was recorded as a learning disability.Expenditure data
The expenditure figures represent local authority spending on long-term adult social care for working-age adults with a learning disability. They do not represent all spending on learning disability services.Personal Independence Payment
Source: Department for Work and Pensions, through Stat-Xplore.
Personal Independence Payment, usually called PIP, provides financial support to people with a long-term health condition or disability. The figures represent working-age adults who were entitled to PIP and whose main recorded disability was within the Learning Disability Global category. This includes Down’s syndrome, Fragile X syndrome and other or unspecified learning disabilities. Entitlement does not always mean that a payment was being made at the time the data were recorded.Disability Living Allowance
Source: Department for Work and Pensions, through Stat-Xplore.
Disability Living Allowance, usually called DLA, provides support with the additional costs of disability. For most new claims, it is now available only to children under the age of 16. The figures represent children entitled to DLA whose main disabling condition was recorded as a learning difficulty.Education, Health and Care plans
Source: Department for Education’s Special Educational Needs in England collection.
Education, Health and Care plans, usually called EHC plans, describe the education, health and social care support a child or young person requires. The figures represent children and young people with an EHC plan whose main special educational need was recorded as:- moderate learning difficulty
- severe learning difficulty
- profound and multiple learning difficulty
Children in Need
Source: Department for Education’s Children in Need Census.
A Child in Need plan is used when a local authority assesses that a child requires additional services to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development. The figures estimate the number of children recorded as having a learning disability within the Children in Need data.Making the geographical areas comparable
The government datasets do not always use the same geographical boundaries. For example, some benefits data are published for local authority districts, while education and social care data use upper-tier local authorities. The data were therefore matched to consistent local authority boundaries before they were analysed. Changes caused by local government reorganisations were also considered so that figures could be compared across years as consistently as possible.Points to remember
- These are administrative records of people identified by services, not estimates of the total number of people with a learning disability.
- The datasets cover different age groups and use different definitions and eligibility rules.
- A person may be represented in more than one dataset, so the figures should not be added together.
- Changes in policy, eligibility, services or recording practices may affect trends over time.