Purpose
To deliver high-quality, standardised training that strengthens the workforce’s capability to provide safe, equitable, person-centred care for people with a learning disability and autistic people. The programme goes far beyond compliance—embedding understanding, compassion, and confidence across all roles and levels.
Key aims:
- Create a consistent standard of knowledge, language, and practice across the workforce.
- Improve safety, communication, and personalised support.
- Ensure staff understand rights, reasonable adjustments, and how to reduce avoidable harm.
- Build workforce capability through meaningful learning.‑box training.
Strategic Drivers
- Legislative & National Standards: Meets the Health and Care Act requirement for mandatory training on learning disability and autism.
- Safety & Quality Improvement: Reduces preventable harm by improving understanding of needs, communication, and personalised support.
- Equity & Inclusion: Tackles inequalities experienced by people with a learning disability and autistic people in health and social care.
- Workforce Capability: Builds skill, confidence, and compassionate practice across the whole system.
- Person Centred Care: Aligns with the Leeds ambition for personalised, inclusive, and respectful care experiences
Approach
- Nationally Standardised Training: Deliver the Tier 1 and Tier 2 Oliver McGowan framework using accredited materials and trainers.
- Co-delivered with experts by experience: Training is shaped, informed, and delivered with autistic people and people with a learning disability and their families.
- Embedded Into Workforce Systems: Integrated into induction, mandatory training cycles, and role specific development pathways.
- Cross Sector Delivery: Delivered consistently across health, social care, voluntary sector partners, and commissioned services.
- Quality & Assurance: Monitoring of completion, quality of delivery, feedback, and impact on practice.
Focus
- Creating Consistent Standards: Workforce, regardless of role or setting, gains the same foundational understanding and expectations.
- Building Capability, Not Just Compliance: Focus on behaviour, confidence, communication, and practical skills.
- Person-centred Practice: Supporting staff to understand individual needs, preferences, sensory differences, and rights.
- Reducing Health Inequalities: Improving access, experience, and outcomes for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
Academy Role
- Accelerate Progress: Lead the scaleup of high-quality, consistent training across all sectors. up of high-quality, consistent training across all sectors.
- Connector: Bring together NHS, social care, VCSE and experts by experience to maintain alignment to the national model.
- Catalyst: Use insight and assurance data to improve quality, tackle inequity, and strengthen confidence across the workforce.
- Partnering: Support organisations to embed training within induction, CPD, and role specific pathways. ‑specific pathways.
Expected Impact (Healthy Leeds Plan Alignment)
- Reduced inequalities in access, experience, and outcomes for autistic people and people with a learning disability.
- More confident, compassionate workforce able to provide personalised, respectful, and safe care.
- Improved communication and reasonable adjustments, leading to better care experiences and fewer avoidable incidents.
- Consistent system‑wide standards, strengthening integrated care delivery and safeguarding quality.
- Greater inclusion and belonging, embedding respectful, person-centred practice across Leeds.