NHS England has re-released Learning from Lives and Deaths (LeDeR) report today, following an updated analysis from their research partners King’s College London. This annual report explores data involving the early deaths of people in the UK who are autistic or have a learning disability. The report was first published in September 2025, before being retracted in December 2025 due to errors in data collection and reporting. This re-publication has amended those errors. The figures have been revised regarding avoidable deaths of autistic people and people with a learning disability.

Please be aware that this report discusses deaths by suicide, so please read with care. If you are feeling distressed and need to speak to someone, call Samaritans for free on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, or visit samaritans.org.

The LeDeR 2023 report has been republished following a technical correction to some data. The revised LeDeR data does not change the overall picture, but it does sharpen it. An increase in avoidable deaths should focus attention not on the technical correction itself, but on the urgent need for sustained action to improve care, safety and outcomes for autistic people and others covered by the LeDeR report.

This data represents only a relatively small group of autistic people and people with learning disabilities. It should be interpreted with caution, especially when talking about the outcomes for all autistic people or people with a learning disability. However, the overall challenges around timely and preventative healthcare are important issues that will have a bigger impact on improving lives.

The report indicated that some adults with a learning disability die on average 19.5 years earlier than the general population. This increased to 26.8 years earlier for some adults with a severe or profound learning disability. In both groups, around 40% of these early deaths are avoidable. That means they are either preventable or treatable.

Early deaths in people with a learning disability are more likely to be treatable than early deaths in the general population. Over 1 in 3 people faced delays in getting the right healthcare at the right time, and experienced gaps in their treatment and poor quality of care and treatment for health conditions. This shows that there is a huge role for healthcare to play in ensuring people with a learning disability receive timely and correct diagnosis and treatment.

1 in 4 care packages were judged by coroners to not meet the needs of the individuals and therefore contributed to their death.

Unfortunately, given the small number of autistic people without a learning disability included in the report (127), it is difficult to draw strong conclusions from some of the figures. Generally, only deaths of those known to health and social care services will have been notified to LeDer. This may skew the figures of the types of deaths recorded. For example, those known to mental health services may represent the high numbers of deaths by suicide (31.5%) in this report, although we do know that deaths by suicide are higher in autistic people than in the general population.

The figures show that 44.1 % of autistic adults who died early lived in the most deprived areas.

There were some common failings noted in the coroner reports from these deaths, which we should take seriously:

• Inadequate training for staff around the needs of autistic adults
• Lack of awareness of autistic adults’ needs
• Insufficient referrals to autistic specialist services

It is clear that healthcare is still not meeting the needs of autistic people and people with a learning disability. Services are inaccessible, staff lack training, and patients are being turned away, misdiagnosed, or incorrectly treated.

Annual health checks: We are close to sharing the results from our trial of autism health checks, supported by NHS England. This trial involved training GPs to provide annual appointments to autistic patients and make adjustments to ensure that the service was accessible and helpful for them. This is one way in which we can ensure health problems are identified and treated early.

Training: It is now a statutory requirement that CQC-registered providers must ensure their staff receive learning disability and autism training appropriate to their role. The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training is the standardised training that was developed for this purpose and is now being carried out by health and social care staff across the UK.

But there is much more that can be done to understand autistic patients’ needs and provide treatments that work for them. Our 2030 Goals all set out ways in which we can address health inequalities for autistic people. Examples of our 2030 Goals include developing health checks, providing proven support from day one, developing treatments for anxiety, and creating accessible public spaces.

We welcome further work with NHS England and other partners to address this urgent issue