Lack of funding for rising wage bills could mean up to 30,000 jobs are axed, suggests a report by learning disability charity HFT

teacher and pupil receiving support
About 150,000 adults receive learning disability support, but staff could be cut as providers struggle to pay increases to the ‘national living wage’. Photograph: The Guardian
Learning disability services could be most at risk from continued failure to deliver increased funding for social care, a report by independent experts is warning.

Up to 30,000 jobs – one in 10 – in learning disability services could be axed over the next four years as rises in the government’s “national living wage” (NLW) hit providers particularly hard, according to the analysis.

To enable providers to break even, the report suggests, annual funding increases of at least 5% will be needed through to 2020, when ministers have said the NLW will be worth more than £9 an hour for workers aged 25 or over. It is currently £7.20, rising to £7.50 next April. Read the full article here