News – 28 June 2017

Investigation exposes
‘trade in people’

A ‘trade in people’ with learning disabilities and/or autism is escalating, a partnership of activists, families and Lancaster University academics claim today.

The number of people in inpatient units run by the independent sector is increasing (now 52%) when national government policy is for the opposite to happen, the new report has established.

£477 million was spent on keeping just 2,500 people with learning disabilities and/or autism in hospital last year.

The publication, entitled A Trade in People, has been released by the University’s Centre for Disability Research (CeDR) on the eve of voting on the Queen’s Speech.

‘Blind eye’ being shown by politicians