Learning Disability JSNA

Data and Intelligence

The Department of Health & Social Care's Fingertips platform has a Learning Disability profile, the following information is a summary of key findings from this information when viewed in 2025.

GP Registration

  • The percentage of patients registered with a learning disability has not recently changed in Hartlepool, matching the North East and exceeding the national average.
  • In 2024/25, 0.8% of patients were registered in both Hartlepool and the North East, compared to 0.6% in England.

Social Care Satisfaction

  • Satisfaction with social care protection among adults (18+) rose from 2014/15 to 2017/18.
  • Hartlepool consistently reports higher satisfaction than both the North East and England.

Long-term Support

  • The rate of adults (18+) receiving long-term support declined from 2015/16 to 2018/19, then rose slightly in 2019/20 to 4.75 per 1,000, higher than the region but lower than the national rate.
  • Among those on the GP register, 52.8 per 100 received long-term support in 2019/20, above regional and national levels.
  • Direct payments peaked in 2017/18 but declined to 50.0% in 2019/20.

Employment

  • The employment gap between those with learning disabilities and the general population has been consistently lower in Hartlepool than in England for 10 years.
  • However, the gap widened to 62.6 percentage points in the latest data.
  • The employment rate for supported adults dropped sharply from 21% in 2021/22 to 7.6% in 2022/23, still higher than the North East (3.5%) and England (4.8%).
  • In 2019/20, 24.2% of supported working-age adults were in paid employment in Hartlepool, compared to 5.2% in the North East and 5.6% in England.

Safeguarding

  • Section 42 safeguarding enquiries involving individuals with learning disabilities increased between 2015/16 and 2017/18, surpassing the national rate.
  • In 2018/19, Hartlepool had 52.7 per 1,000, compared to 77.2 in the North East and 50.9 in England.

Accommodation

  • The proportion of adults with learning disabilities living in their own home or with family has steadily increased, reaching 89.5% in 2022/23, higher than both the North East (88.4%) and England (80.5%).
  • Hartlepool consistently shows higher rates of settled accommodation and lower rates of unsettled accommodation than regional and national averages.

The Institute of Public Care (IPC) at Oxford Brookes University's Projecting Adult Needs and Service Information System uses predictive population analytics to forecast future data.

Forecast (2023-2040)

Overall Population with Learning Disabilities

  • Decrease of 2.12% by 2030
  • Decrease of 3.78% by 2040.

Moderate or Severe Learning Disabilities

  • Decrease of 1.33% by 2030
  • Decrease of 2.99% by 2040.

Severe Learning Disabilities

  • No change by 2030
  • Decrease of 2.53% by 2040.

Living with a Parent (Moderate / Severe Learning Disability)

  • Increase of 0.93% by 2030
  • Decrease of 0.93% by 2040.
  • Overall, little change between 2023 to 2040.

Those with a Learning Disability displaying Challenging Behaviour

  • Stable between 2023 and 2030
  • Slight decrease by 2040.

Down’s Syndrome

  • Decrease of 2.94% by 2030
  • Decrease of 5.88% by 2040