Learning Disabilities

The Learning Disability Service is committed to helping and supporting people with learning disabilities living in the City of Leicester.

People with learning disabilities are one of the most vulnerable groups in society and Leicester City Council is committed to supporting them. 

We believe that people with learning disabilities should be able to have more choices, improved independence, know their rights and be part of their local community.

We are also a member of the Leicester City Learning Disability Partnership Board.  

This page contains information about our Learning Disabilities services.  You can also find out more about Learning Disabilities by visiting the Leicester Disability Information Network.

• You can also download the following information in an accessible leaflet.

How to Contact Us

We work closely with health staff to offer support and advice to people over 18 and their carers.

You can contact us yourself or ask sices/social-care-health/carers">carers.

You can contact us yourself or ask somebody to do this for you using the details below:

Will you get a service?

A worker from the Access Team will ask you about what support you need and decide if you can have a service from us.

The worker has to follow rules called "Eligibility Criteria" to decide if we can offer you a service.

If the worker thinks you do not need a service that we provide, they will tell you about what other help you might be able to get.

There are lots of other places that you can go to for different kinds of support.

How will your needs be met?

If the worker from the Access Team thinks you need our help, they will arrange for a Social Worker to visit you.

A Community Care Assessment form will be filled in to help decide what services you might get.

Once your assessment form will be filled in to help decide what services you might get.

Once you start to have a service, if nothing changes you will have a review once a year.  This is to check that you have the right support and that your services are still meeting your needs.

What services will you get?

A Care Manager will work with you to find out how we can provide the support you need.  The Care Manager will ask you about the things you like and about what is important to you. 

A Care Plan will be written taking into account the things you would like to do.  A Care Plan says what services you need.

The Care Manager will arrange the services or care to best suit what you told us you need.

What services can we provide?

We have a range of services to suit individual needs.  All our services aim to help people improve their independence, choices, be included in their community and learn new skills.

Some of the services we can offer are: 

• Community Opportunities - about 30 community groups spread across the City. The groups are based in places like community centres, libraries and leisure centres. 

• Hastings Road and Layton House (Access All Areas) – for people with high support needs and those who challenge services. Specialist health and social care staff work together to improve people’s health, choice and independence.

• Short Breaks – to give you and your carers a break from each other. There is also an Shared Lives Scheme where you can have a short break with paid carers in their home.

• Employment – plus different schemes that give the training and skills to help those that want to find paid work.

• Supported Living – to help those that want to live independently but still get the right amount of support to meet their needs, such as help with cooking, paying bills and shopping.

• Specialist Health Services – to help people with health needs. They include Community Nurses, Psychology services, Occupational, Speech and Language and Physiotherapists.

Things you might want to think about

• Person Centred Planning – puts you at the centre of planning for your life. Family, friends or anyone YOU choose listen and help you to think about what you want now and in the future. Everyone works with you to try and make things happen.

• A Personal Budget is the amount of money allocated to you to spend on your social care support needs.

• Health Action Planning – it is about you and says what you can do to be healthy. A Health Action plan helps to make sure you get the help, services and support you need to be healthy. It helps other people, like doctors and nurses, understand your needs.

• Communication Passport – tell other people and services about the best way they can listen to you, talk to you and give you information that is easy for you to understand.

• Individual Budgets - put you at the centre of the deciding how the support you need should be provided. You get to know how much money there is for your support needs. You do a support plan to show how you want your support needs to be there is for your support needs. You do a support plan to show how you want your support needs to bemet using this money.

• Direct Payments - a different way of getting your support that gives you more choice and control over your life. Instead of giving you a service/equipment we give you the money to arrange and buy the support you need. Direct Payments do not affect your benefits.

• Assistive Technology - different gadgets or equipment to help you be more independent and do things for yourself. An example is the medication dispenser that reminds you to take your pills when you need to.

If you have a carer

Carers will be offered a Carers Assessment. Carers can have an assessment even if the person they care for is not using our services. A Carers Assessment gives carers a chance to tell us about their needs and about what would make caring easier for them.

Useful links

• Leicester Disability Information Network - information for the disabled and

  their carers. 

• Supporting People - improving housing related support for people in Leicester, including those with learning disabilities

• Valuing People Now - government plan to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities

Support Groups

There are a number of support groups who can help you, such as Mencap and We Think Group that help and support adults with learning disabilities.

Other useful websites

• View a list of other websites with useful information about learning disabilities

Telling us what you think

We want you to help us improve our services by telling us what you are happy with and what you are not happy with. You can do this by talking to staff that work with you.

You can also ask to speak to a manager or you can contact:

We also have a formal complaints procedure that you can use to inform us of your views on the services we provide.

You can also help us plan and improve services by joining the Learning Disability Partnership Board.

If you would like to know more about the Partnership Board you can contact the Valuing People Support Officer on 0116 225 4750: 

Related Documents

• Download the above information in an accessible leaflet

• Valuing People Now

• Valuing People Now Easy Read

• Valuing People Now Executive Summary

• Valuing People Now Delivery Plan

• Valuing People Now Easy Read Delivery Plan

*Leicester City Council is not responsible for the content and services on external websites.