Hey everyone 
I’ve been off line for a few days so I’m apologising in advance if what I’m posting here is actually old news now BUT I’ve just had this summary of the Governments new Autism Stratgey for children, young people and Adults through (for England) and thought I would post in case anyone had missed it…
Lots of good stuff promised 
National strategy for autistic children, young people and adults: 2021 to 2026 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Review of the National Autism Strategy ‘Think Autism': call for evidence - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Below is an outline of the most relevant points:
The strategy includes promises to:
- invest £10.5 million into finding new ways to reduce diagnosis waiting times for children and young people.
- invest £2.5 million to improve the quality of adult diagnostic and post-diagnostic pathways and diagnosis waiting times.
- increase public understanding of autism with a long-term, nationwide initiative.
- provide £18.5 million to prevent autistic people from falling into mental health crisis and £21 million to local authorities to help people move from inpatient units back into the community.
- improve autism understanding among education professionals, job centre staff and frontline staff in the justice system.
On education, the strategy promises to:
- improve understanding of autism among educational professionals by continuing to provide funding for autism training and professional development in schools.
- carry out a new anti-bullying programme in schools.
- strengthen and promote pathways to employment, including supported internships, traineeships and apprenticeships, and support all local areas to develop Supported Employment Forums.
On criminal justice, the strategy promises to:
- develop a toolkit to educate frontline staff about neurodiversity.
- introduce the new Custody and Detention Apprenticeship, to be undertaken by all new prison officers and youth custodial specialists.
- improve access to assessments and referrals for support for autistic people in contact with the criminal and youth justice systems.
On health, the strategy promises to:
- invest £13 million to tackle diagnosis waiting times for children, young people and adults.
- fund an expansion of an early identification pilot programme, which involves health and education professionals working together in schools to assess children.
- move forward with NHS Long Term Plan commitments on reducing health inequalities, including trialling an autism health check and recording reasonable adjustments in patient records.
On social care, the strategy promises to:
- improve the adult social care system and bring forward plans for reform in 2021.
- enable an affordable, high-quality adult social care system that meets people’s needs, while supporting health and care to join up services around them.
The strategy re-affirms the Prime Minister’s commitment to fixing social care and bringing forward long-term proposals, without which we believe real change cannot happen. We will continue to campaign with our partners, Autism Alliance and NAS until the Government delivers on that promise.
This progress will help to establish a better future for autistic people.
