‘Essex Carers Network are really pleased to know that people who are paid to work with our loved ones have access to training and resources to ensure they support the health and wellbeing of people with a learning disability as they age.’ - Essex Carers Network 

Essex County Council began it’s Meaningful Lives Ageing Well program in 2019 recognising that people with Learning disability, generally die earlier than the general population and often from preventable and treatable causes. They learned about this from the outcomes of reviews undertaken as part of the LeDeR program.  

LeDeR stands for ‘Learning from the Lives and Deaths of people with a Learning Disability and Autistic people’  

LeDeR is a service improvement programme for people with a learning disability and autistic people.  

“Essex Carers Network are part of the LeDeR steering group, which looks at the findings of the LeDeR reviews and works to ensure learnings and actions are heard and carried forward to address any health inequalities for people with a learning disability.” Essex Carers Network 

Established in 2017 and funded by NHS England and NHS Improvement, it's the first of its kind. 

Click here for more information on LeDeR. 

Latest LeDeR report 2021 easy read

The Ageing Well Programme was developed by Essex County Council to better understand the challenges faced by adults with learning disabilities and/or autism as they age. 

The intention of Essex County Council’s focus on ageing well, is to help improve the quality of life for people with Learning Disability as they age and in addition to delay or reduce the development of age-related support needs. 

Essex County Council have been delivering training on Ageing Well with a Learning Disability, to organisations working in residential and supported living settings as well as those providing support in people’s own homes.  

Following this, organisations are asked to show evidence of their knowledge and competence to provide good quality support to those they support, by applying to be on the Essex Council accredited Provider list for Ageing Well support. 

This means that when placements are being sourced, the Providers who are on the accredited list will be approached first, so that the best match to meet the needs of someone ageing with a learning disability, can be made.  

This will help to ensure that as people with a learning disability age, they are supported by staff who are informed and knowledgeable about the issues people are likely to face. 

Alongside this Toolkit you are going through now, there are three other versions that have been co-produced led by Essex County Council: 

• One for the Service Providers which sits alongside the training and helps them have reference to all the things they need to know about providing good support to people as they age 
• One for the Social Workers and Reviewers so that they are as informed about what to consider, when undertaking annual reviews with people who are showing signs of ageing and make sure that what should be in place, is in place and of good quality.  
• One for people with Learning disabilities, with or without autism, to try and ensure that they themselves, are as informed as anyone else about what they can do to stay healthy as they progress to growing older.