National Autistic Society responds to Budget and Health and Disability White Paper

Tim Nicholls, Head of Influencing and Research at the National Autistic Society, said: “Autistic people and their families face huge delays and long fights to get support across all aspects of their lives, including diagnosis, health, education and social care. Today’s budget did nothing to tackle these. We are really worried the Government has missed another opportunity to fund its all-important Autism Strategy to make an difference to autistic people’s lives. It’s beyond time to invest in autistic people’s futures.

"We are pleased that in the Health and Disability White Paper, published at the same time, the Government proposes to abolish the Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment. Although this will take several years to be implemented, it removes one of the big obstacles autistic people face when applying for benefits. The Government must work closely with autistic and disabled people to make sure the new system is more supportive and respectful. Poor autism understanding from benefits assessors has undermined the welfare system for years, so we welcome the commitment to pilot new specialist assessors. We call on the Government to make sure this initiative covers autistic people. Proper autism understanding in the benefits system can’t come soon enough."