‘Unacceptable’ inequalities remain, concludes Minister, such as that adults with a learning disability die 19 years younger than those without.
For the past nine years, the independent report Learning from Lives and Deaths of people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) has been published by King’s College London. The latest such report, which looked at deaths reviewed in 2024, will be the last – and paints a damning picture.
Indeed, Preet Kaur Gill MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Innovation and Safety told the House of Commons yesterday that ‘continued inequalities’ cited in the report are ‘unacceptable.’
Among the finds is the stark fact that adults with a learning disability die on average 19 years younger than the general population. Some 78.8% of adults with Down syndrome died before the age of 65. The most common cause of death for autistic adults without a learning disability was suicide, misadventure or accident – suggesting that many were preventable.
- Read the LeDeR Report 2024 (published July 2026)
In sharing the report, Ms Gill cited a number of measures being taken to address such inequalities. These include continued rollout of the Oliver McGowan mandatory training on learning disability and autism across health and adult social care staff, improved identification of people with a learning disability on GP registers and increased uptake of annual health checks and health action plans for them, and continued piloting of annual health checks for autistic people.
What’s more, NHS England is rolling out a ‘reasonable adjustment digital flag’ for all disabled people to ensure that adjustments are recorded and shared appropriately in care records. Targeted support to priority groups including autistic people is also part of the government’s Suicide Prevention Strategy for England. Implementation of the Down Syndrome Act 2022 should also improve life outcomes for people with Down syndrome.
Indeed, the end of the LeDeR annual report is part of this wider effort to improve outcomes. LeDeR data will now be incorporated within a new patient-level dataset to better understand disparities and inform targeted local and national solutions. This data will also be published; the government will announce further details of this in due course.
Preet Kaur Gill MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Innovation and Safety, said: ‘This government is committed to learning from good and poor practice and driving improvements at all levels to secure better outcomes for people with a learning disability and autistic people. The action we are taking will build a more complete picture of people’s lives and deaths, informed by what we have heard from people, families and carers.
‘We remain dedicated to tackling avoidable deaths and expect local areas to continue prioritising LeDeR as part of their actions to reduce health inequalities in their populations.’
But the publication of this last report has met with mixed responses. Mel Merritt, Head of Policy and Influencing at the National Autistic Society, says: ‘While the sample is too small to be fully representative, the latest LeDeR report shows that suicide continues to be the highest cause of death for autistic people without a learning disability – making up one third of all deaths. We know 66% of autistic adults experience suicidal ideation, nine times higher than the general population. This is devastating and it shouldn’t be this way. The government must address the high representation of autistic people in its suicide prevention strategy and we support the recommendation for a targeted national action plan to prevent deaths by suicide for autistic people.
‘As this is the final national LeDeR report, we are very concerned this could mean no more national recommendations focusing on learning from the lives and deaths of people with a learning disability and autistic people, while shifting responsibility to local areas without enough resources and accountability. The government must learn from these findings and take urgent action to create the equal healthcare system that autistic people deserve.’
Photo by Jacob Diehl / Unsplash.
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