Minister for Health Innovation and Safety (Dr ): I would like to acknowledge
today the publication of the updated eighth report on Learning
from lives and deaths – People with a learning disability and
autistic people (LeDeR) produced by King's College London. This
replaces a previous version of the report which was retracted in
December 2025 due a technical issue with the LeDeR data. I will
place a copy of the revised report in the library of both houses.
This Government is committed to improving care and reducing
health inequalities for people with a learning disability and
autistic people. We understand how important the timely and
accurate release of information on LeDeR is in achieving this
goal.
Following urgent investigation, the errors were found to be
caused by an automated data-processing issue, which meant that
some data on causes of death was missing at the time of analysis.
This affected the conclusions originally published. I recognise
how concerning the retraction will have been for bereaved
families and stakeholders who place great trust in the LeDeR
process. NHS England has worked with its data processor to
correct the automated processing error so that it cannot recur.
King's College London has also strengthened its data checking
protocols to prevent similar issues in the future. I am assured
that this issue has now been resolved, and these improvements
have been applied to the revised report published today.
The headline findings of the updated 2023 LeDeR report remain
consistent with those previously published. The updated analysis
reaffirms that people with a learning disability continue to
experience significant health inequalities: on average, they die
19.5 years younger than the general population and are almost
twice as likely to die from an avoidable cause of death. This
remains unacceptable, and tackling these disparities continues to
be a priority for this Government.
NHS England sets clear expectations for local systems, requiring
Integrated Care Boards to prioritise LeDeR reviews in their
delivery plans and produce an annual report demonstrating how
learning from those reviews has driven action. In addition, there
is wider, significant work underway to reduce health inequalities
for people with a learning disability and autistic people –
including mandatory training on learning disability and autism
for health and care staff, continued uptake of annual health
checks, and roll out of a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag.
The updated report contains the following specific changes:
Review of lives and deaths (2021-2023)
The proportion of deaths classed as avoidable is now higher than
originally reported, particularly in 2023 (40.2% vs 38.8%),
although the downward trend over time remains. Influenza and
pneumonia remain the leading avoidable cause but account for a
smaller share, while ischaemic heart disease contributes a larger
share. Cerebrovascular disease replaces digestive cancers among
the leading avoidable causes. The ranking of overall causes of
death has also changed, with diseases of the circulatory system
now the most common cause.
Ethnicity
There are small changes in the proportion of deaths classified as
avoidable by ethnic group, with slightly lower percentages among
ethnic minority groups and a slightly higher percentage among
white adults. There are small shifts in the relative contribution
of leading causes of death by ethnic group. These changes do not
alter the overall conclusions, with avoidable mortality remaining
higher among several ethnic minority groups than white adults and
the general population.
Level of learning disability
Avoidable mortality is higher than originally reported for both
adults with a mild or moderate learning disability and those with
a severe or profound learning disability. The difference between
these groups is now considerable. While there are small changes
in the proportions of overall and avoidable causes of death, the
ordering of causes remains unchanged, and the overall
interpretation of differing mortality patterns by level of
learning disability is not altered.
Autistic adults
There are small changes in the proportions of causes of death
among autistic adults without a learning disability. The largest
shift is in deaths by suicide, which increase from 29.1% to
31.5%. This does not alter the overall interpretation of
findings. Evidence on causes of death for autistic adults without
a learning disability is emerging. The number of deaths notified
to LeDeR remains small, meaning findings are unlikely to be fully
representative of the population of people who are autistic.
