Money spent on learning difficulties services does not improve lives

Councils are “wasting” money on learning difficulties services that do not improve people’s quality of life, Community Care Live heard today.

Carl Poll, head of publications and member of the In Control core team that has been running self-directed support pilots for people with learning difficulties – said councils needed to be “more creative” in the way they tailored services.

He argued that current learning difficulties spending was “fantastically wasteful” when it was used for residential care and out-of-area placements that did not give people “quality of life”.

Poll said that evidence from the In Control pilots showed self-directed support could improve quality of care while saving councils’ money, but warned that it should not be used as a cost-cutting measure.

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