Local authorities begin to commission flexible care so people with learning disabilities can stay out late

Campaigners have succeeded in persuading a growing number of local authorities to commission flexible care, giving people with learning disabilities the opportunity to go out and stay up late if they want to.

Stay Up Late launched its #NoBedtimes campaign back in 2019 and has published a report on its work to get councils “to embed the principle of flexible support in the commissioning process”.

Daniel Randall-Nason, Stay Up Late Ambassador, says in the report: “When we go out to gigs we want to stay for the whole thing, not leave when the carer says it’s time to go.”

Earlier this year, the charity contacted every local authority in England and Wales responsible for commissioning social care.

Darren Johnson, campaigns co-ordinator of Stay Up Late, said: “Before Covid came along, the Big Bedtime Audit found that at 8.30pm on a typical Friday evening 69 per cent of the people with learning disabilities were either in bed or ready for bed. Only seven per cent were actually out. Our campaign is aimed at bringing about a culture shift and giving people the opportunity to go out and stay up late if they want to.”

He revealed that their campaign has succeeded in getting some local authorities on board and added: "While a number of support providers have enthusiastically engaged with our campaign and have been committed to delivering flexible support to support late-night activities, we always knew there was also some work to do with those responsible for commissioning social care at the local authority level.

“In writing to each local authority directly we were keen to get a sense of what changes were necessary to embed the principle of flexible support in the commissioning process, what progress local authorities were making in writing this into individual contracts and what barriers there are to overcome.

Some local authorities are taking 'real concrete steps to change things'

“Our report has shown that there are some local authorities taking real concrete steps to change things for the better and others that are willing to take on board lessons that have been learnt elsewhere. Hopefully, more local authorities will now follow.”

The report ‘Commissioning social care for adults with learning disabilities: what local authorities are telling us’ revealed that 21 local authorities responded to the campaign, with some expressing support for the campaign objectives.

Blackpool Council stated their contract specification is ‘based around the principles of person centred care’ and that ‘in line with the service user’s specification, service users’ preferences regarding their bed times will be accommodated and staffing availability will be designed to support them’.

The London Borough of Merton said a new service specification had been put in place which ‘does include a specific expectation that individuals should be supported to take part in a range of meaningful activities during the day and evening and that they should have an opportunity to have an active social life’.

Other local authorities after being contacted by the charity agreed to do some spot checks and audits and raise the issue with the commissioning team.

Stay Up Late praised Hertfordshire County Council in its report as ‘one local authority that has enthusiastically embraced change. They have engaged with us in the past, long supported our campaign and commissioned research specifically around the issue of bedtimes’.

Hampshire County Council ‘is another local authority that has shown a real commitment to changing the way contracts and payments work in order to meet the needs of the people they support, including implementing a new payments system,’ said the report.

Another local authority after being contacted by the charity came up with an action plan where ‘no bedtimes for adults’ is an outcome for all its supported living providers – that means it goes into Supported Living tender documents and new contracts.

The charity is now planning to host an online seminar where it will be inviting a number of local authorities to share their own learning, as well as hearing from some of their own ambassadors with a learning disability and what they want in terms of flexible support.

For more information on the Stay Up Late campaign go to stayuplate.org/