Council leaders have warned the number of adults with a learning disability needing social care is set to rise by 3% a year, putting further pressures on local authority finances.
The Local Government Association (LGA) said that estimates show more than an additional 4,000 adults with learning disabilities will need social care next year.
However, the latest employment statistics show that the proportion of adults with learning disabilities in work is falling, from 7.1% in 2011/12 to 5.8% in 2015/16. The LGA said this is symptomatic of the underfunding in adult social care.
The LGA said people with learning disabilities are under threat from government funding cuts just as much as other more high-profile groups.
Cllr Izzi Seccombe, chairman of the LGA’s community wellbeing board, said: 'We need the government to deliver a long-term, sustainable solution to solve the social care funding crisis, not more short-term fixes.
'A young person with a learning disability who has their whole life ahead of them needs to know they have a social care system that will be there for them in the decades ahead.
'Year-to-year sticking plasters will not provide that assurance and will not enable them to live dignified, independent lives.'
