Advocacy service funding for people with learning disabilities has been cut by 15% over the past four years, according to research by Improving Health and Lives.
The learning disability research body’s report, Advocacy by and for adults with learning disabilities in England, surveyed 88 advocacy groups and 78 council commissioners of advocacy services.
This found that from 2009-10 to 2012-13 funding for learning disability specific advocacy services fell by 15.1 per cent as commissioners cut their total spend for self-advocacy organisations and also moved specialist contracts to generic advocacy organisations.