Position statements

Autistic girls remain under diagnosed, compared to boys. This has been attributed to girls displaying autistic traits in subtler ways than boys or being better at ‘masking’ or ‘hiding’ that they are autistic. 

We should not forget that hiding your true self is exhausting and we work with many girls who have reached crisis point after years of having their needs misunderstood or explained away as something else. It is vital diagnostic services continue to build understanding of the different representation of autism in girls. 

While it is true that more boys receive support for autism in schools than girls, the number of girls receiving support for autism has increased significantly in the last few years. For example, the number of girls with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan stating autism as their primary need has more than tripled in the last decade.  

This indicates that the diagnosis services are getting better at recognising autistic girls and that we will continue to see more of them in the education system in the future. This also means that all schools should be prepared for these pupils and ensure they are able to meet their needs.

Stigma, language barriers and stereotype perceptions of behaviour, mean that some children and young people from ethnic minority backgrounds are not even considered for an autism diagnosis. Some parents have reported that they feel there is an initial tendency, especially within schools, to label their child as having behavioural problems instead of displaying possible signs of autism. They say that it can be hard to convince schools, even after a diagnosis, that autism is the cause of their behaviour. 

Following a diagnosis, many families from ethnic minority backgrounds struggle with a lack of information and support. Many parents and carers, especially from migrant backgrounds face difficulty accessing support services and advice because information is only provided in English or contains too much jargon. Families also say that professionals treat them badly, make assumptions about them or misunderstand them due to a lack of cultural confidence. 

More needs to be done to tackle the delays and inequalities experienced by families and young people from ethnic minority backgrounds when seeking a diagnosis. Professionals involved in the diagnosis process must understand the barriers and challenges autistic children, young people and their families from ethnic minority backgrounds face. It’s also crucial that information is accessible and, where possible, translations are provided for people who don’t have English as a first language.

Latest NHS statistics show that over 224,000 patients are on a waiting list for an autism assessment. This is a 115% increase since 2022.  Nearly 90% of these people have been waiting longer than the recommended 13 weeks.

Over half of these patients are children and young people aged under 18.

The rise in referrals reflects several factors, including increased public awareness of autism, reduced stigma, broader diagnostic criteria, and improved clinical understanding.

Many who seek an autism diagnosis are struggling in their daily lives. A medical diagnosis remains one of the only ways to unlock support in education, employment and beyond. 

We know from our work with young people, that too often it is only when a child reaches a crisis point, that professionals around them will investigate whether autism could be the underlying cause.

As a society, we need to get better at supporting children and young people who experience the world differently, from their earliest years. We must stop waiting for children to fail before we intervene. We need better pre and post diagnosis support. 

A society that values and supports neurodiversity will be less challenging for autistic people and will enable them to live longer, happier and healthier lives.  

Through our leadership role in the Autism Alliance, Ambitious about Autism is calling for urgent reform of the autism assessment system that advocates for reforms that make assessments more reliable, integrated, and tailored to autistic people’s needs.

Autistic young people are struggling with a lack of support after an autism diagnosis and there are often very limited opportunities to access help and advice. Post-diagnostic support is often tailored to the needs of parents and carers, rather than to the needs of autistic young people themselves.

Young autistic people need access to relatable information from autistic peers to help with self-acceptance and understanding what autism means for them. They need support to learn about coping strategies, co-occurring conditions, and adjustments. The focus should be on early support that can provide young people with the knowledge, skills, confidence, and motivation to live their life in a way that suits them. All post-diagnostic support services and resources should place the young person’s quality of life, happiness, and wellbeing at the centre.

Meeting other autistic people is key to post-diagnostic support. The opportunity to get to know other people who might have similar experiences provides a vital sense of belonging, solidarity, and the chance to share experiences that many autistic people may have previously believed they were alone in having.

The number of autistic children in schools has been increasing every year, up to 263,989 in 2024/25.   However, the proportion in mainstream schools and academies has remained constant at around 70% for the last 10 years, climbing most recently to 75%.

Some children will need a specialist setting to reach their full potential, but many can thrive in mainstream schools with the right support. All schools should have an inclusive ethos and a focus on getting the right support for each child, at the right time and in the right place.

The Government needs to ensure that services have the right funds to meet needs. We would like to see funding reforms that prioritise transparency, sufficiency, and responsiveness. We need a responsive funding system so that information about where funding leads to positive outcomes is fed back into system design to improve efficiency and sustainability.

Local authorities must decide whether to grant an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan within 20 weeks of the initial assessment. However, in nearly half of cases this deadline is missed.    

An EHC plan is a legal document which sets out a child or young person’s special educational needs and the outcomes they would like to achieve. This is usually a higher level of support than a schools Special Educational Needs (SEN) support and so the local authority will normally provide extra funding which can only be spent on the child with the EHC plan. 

Early intervention, education and support are critical if autistic children are to thrive. With around half of all cases taking longer than the 20-week deadline, too many children are not getting the right support in the early years of school.

EHC plans are designed to join up education, health and social care but the law doesn’t cover each service equally. Families of autistic children who also have a learning disability, sometimes alongside complex health needs, tell us they simply cannot get the social care support they desperately need. Autistic young people with mental health needs also tell us they’re moving from a package of support at 17, to suddenly being ‘dropped’ by mental health services when they turn 18. 

Through our leadership in the Disabled Children’s Partnership (DCP), we are actively campaigning to safeguard the legal rights of children and young people with SEND. We support DCP’s red lines on SEND reform and are united in calling for legal rights to be strengthened, not weakened, and for all services named in education, health and care plans to be equally accountable.

Latest data shows a quarter of all initial requests for assessment for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan were refused. 

The tribunal process is highly stressful for parents and carers and further delays the support children receive at school. Tribunals are expensive – not just for parents but also for the taxpayer. 

The majority of tribunal cases involving autistic children are won by parents or conceded by local authorities. From our work with parents and young people, we’re concerned that local authorities’ decisions are not always based solely on the needs of the child.

School is too often a hostile and anxiety provoking place for autistic children and young people. Fewer than half of autistic children and young people say they are happy at school and only 35% of autistic young people attending mainstream schools feel listened to when decisions are being made about the support they get in education.

Sadly, we know that bullying is a fact of life for many autistic pupils and, as a result, many experience mental health issues. Less than one in 12 (8%) of autistic children and young people think other pupils and students know enough about autism. Meanwhile, the number of autistic pupils who are persistent absentees from school has also increased in recent years. 

We must make sure school is a welcoming place for all. We would like school attendance policies to become more inclusive to provide the right support to pupils with SEND. Rather than penalising absence, attendance guidance should emphasise the importance of working with persistent absentees to identify, understand and address the underlying causes of their poor attendance. The government should also encourage the adoption of a whole school approach to promoting positive mental wellbeing, so all pupils feel able to attend and fully participate in all aspects of school life.

Lost learning among autistic pupils remains a hidden crisis within mainstream schools.

It is defined as any situation where a child misses out on education, such as being suspended, excluded or absent from school as well as situations where learning is lost within school – such as a child being internally excluded, or put on a part timetable.   

Our research found that 71% of autistic young people had experienced some form of lost learning. Over 60% of young people said lost learning had damaged their academic achievements and their mental health.   

Meanwhile, latest data from the Department for Education shows that over 60,000 autistic pupils were persistently absent from school – missing 10% or more of the academic year. 

Families and pupils alike emphasise that lost learning is not a voluntary choice but rather a consequence of systemic shortcomings. Factors such as anxiety, mental health challenges, poorly adapted environments and punitive school practices force families into impossible choices. 

The lack of timely, tailored interventions often results in severe emotional, academic and social consequences, leaving many young people without the education or support they need to thrive. Unless these hidden realities are acknowledged and addressed, many autistic pupils are at risk of being failed by a system that should be their foundation for success.

Lost learning also has a huge impact on family life.  Nearly 90% of parents said that lost learning had negatively affected their personal or professional life, with one in 10 parents losing a job because of their child’s problems at school. More than half of parents have had to take significant time off work to support their autistic child.

Schools must be equipped to provide meaningful support so that autistic pupils are not only present in mainstream education but actively engaged and able to succeed. Autistic young people and parents have told us that autism-specific training in schools could help improve understanding and support for autistic pupils.

We know that too many autistic pupils are not receiving the right support at the right time at school, particularly in mainstream schools. They are being let down by a system which fails to provide them with what they are entitled to and then fails to hold services to account when things go wrong.

Of the 54 local areas inspected by Ofsted between 2023 and 2024, nearly three quarters (74%) were found to have significant weaknesses . 

Until all schools see themselves as quality providers of SEND support, children with SEND will be disadvantaged before they even step through the gates for their first open day visit.

One of the biggest factors in determining how well an autistic child succeeds at school is how well their teachers and school staff understand autism. Yet, our Lost Learning survey (2025) found that 84% of families rated teachers’ autism knowledge as below average, and 61% of autistic young people reported negative experiences with staff. 

Right now, training is patchy, inconsistent, and too often reduced to one-off sessions. Without training, staff may misinterpret communication differences, sensory needs and behaviour, leading to lost learning, exclusion and trauma.

This is avoidable. Our evidence from the Lost Learning report, workshops, and an extensive literature review confirms that training every teacher and school staff member in autism and neurodiversity is the single most effective and scalable intervention for improving mainstream inclusion.

We are calling on the UK Government to ensure that every teacher and school staff member in England’s mainstream schools has the knowledge and confidence to effectively support and include autistic pupils. To achieve this, we recommend:

1. Review and strengthen the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF): bring forward the review to ensure all new teachers are equipped with core skills on autism and neurodiversity from day one.

2. Develop and deliver a National Core Framework for autism and neurodiversity CPD: create a fully funded, government-led training entitlement for all school staff, with high-quality, condition-specific content, refreshed regularly, and embedded as a professional expectation.

Inclusion must not be left to goodwill or luck. Training needs to be universal, ambitious, specific, covering the whole schools staff, and co-produced with autistic young people, families and experts, ensuring it addresses real-world challenges. Without this, autistic pupils will continue to be failed by a system that does not equip teachers to meet their needs.

According to research by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Autism, only 36% of young autistic people who have gone through the transition to adult services say they were fully involved and just over a quarter (26%) said they received enough information. Less than a third (30%) said they had enough time to prepare for the transition to adulthood. 

Many young autistic people find that when they reach adulthood, they see a sudden decrease in the amount of help and support available. Criteria for accessing support is often different for child and adult services, with adult services requiring individuals to be in crisis. Many young autistic people are falling through the cracks, facing long waiting lists for adult mental health services and losing access to the regular support they received as children. This can have a devastating impact on young autistic people’s mental health. 

Autistic young people moving from child to adult services need a smooth transition managed by professionals who understand their needs and keep them involved. They should also have access to peer support so they can share their experiences with other young people.

Autistic graduates face the worst job prospects of all graduates when they leave university.  

Of all disabled graduates, they are the least likely to be in full-time employment and the most likely to be unemployed at all qualification levels.  

An outcomes survey of people who graduated in the 2021/22 academic year found that only 43% of first-degree autistic graduates were in full-time employment, compared with 60% of graduates with no known disability.  

They are also the most likely to experience a poorer fit between current activity and future, lower levels of self-reported meaningful activity post-graduation, and lower levels of highly skilled and permanent employment.

These disappointing outcomes are not a true reflection of the potential of autistic graduates but a sign that autistic students need better support from universities and employers to reach their potential.

Just 30.2% of autistic people are in full or part-time employment, one of the lowest rates of employment of all disabled groups. In our survey of over 500 autistic young people and their parents and carers, 71% of those who are currently unemployed said they would like to be in work, but less than a third were confident they would be able to find work within the next year. 

This is a shocking waste, not just of personal potential and talent, but it also means businesses, and the wider economy, are missing out on the huge benefits autistic people can bring to the workplace. 

Many barriers still exist preventing autistic young people from entering the workforce, including access to good quality careers advice, inflexible hiring practices and non-inclusive workplace cultures. Autistic young people tell us that being anxious about application and interview processes not being accessible to them is the biggest barrier to them finding work.

Over a fifth of the people we surveyed said they don’t tell potential employers they are autistic because they are afraid of being treated unfairly, with over 70% saying they don’t disclose they are autistic due to fear of discrimination. Even when they do disclose and request adjustments during the application process, only 16% said employers always provide them at interview.

Our Employ Autism programme helps autistic people join the workforce by increasing confidence in autism and neurodiversity in the workplace. The programme delivers training, resources, and ongoing mentorship to a wide range of partners across the UK, including employers, careers and employability professionals, parents, and young people.

We are calling for autism and neurodiversity to be explicitly included in all employment policies, particularly in the Government’s Get Britain Working strategy. Without a specific focus, autistic young people risk being left behind. We recommend that the Government:

• Ensure autistic young people’s voices shape the Youth Guarantee and all national youth employment initiatives.

• Embed tailored support and autism-inclusive design into new programmes, such as Youth Employment Hubs and the national Apprenticeship Guarantee.

• Bridge the education-to-employment gap by investing in tailored careers advice in schools and colleges and improving transition support.

• Invest in targeted employment initiatives, scaling proven programmes like Employ Autism, which delivers employer training, mentoring and paid work experience.

Autistic young people represent an untapped and highly motivated workforce. With the right support, they can thrive – but without urgent, targeted action, they will continue to be locked out of work.

Social isolation is sadly a fact of life for many young autistic people. A survey of over 7,000 autistic people and their families by the National Autistic Society (NAS) found that 79% of autistic people and 70% of family members feel socially isolated. Meanwhile 50% of autistic people and family members said they sometimes or often don’t go out because they’re worried about how people will react to their autism. 

Children with special educational needs and disabilities also report feeling lonely at school, with 43% of disabled children saying they don’t have any close friends who they could call on for help.

To help reduce loneliness among autistic young people, our Ambitious Youth Network provides a space for young people aged 13-25 to connect with others with shared interests and to talk to people who might have similar experiences to them.

Long waiting lists and a lack of autism-specific mental health services are a reality for many autistic young people experiencing mental health conditions. For many, support is only available when they reach a crisis point. 

All mental health professionals should receive autism training and support to help them better communicate with autistic people, understand their individual needs and tailor the support they are offered.

Many of the therapies available on the NHS simply don’t work for some autistic children and young people. Talking therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can be difficult to access due to differences in social communication. Autistic young people and their families tell us they want access to alternative therapies and treatments, beyond medication and talking therapies, which might better suit their needs, such as art therapy, social prescribing and support groups.

Latest figures show that there are 1,085 autistic people in hospital. Of these 1,015 have been in hospital for over two years. Shockingly, we also know that the number of under 18s in hospital has doubled since 2015 from 110 to 220.

Following the Winterbourne View hospital scandal in 2011, the Government committed to moving all autistic people and people with learning disabilities inappropriately placed in hospital to community-based support by 2014. 

However, this has not happened and too many autistic people remain shut away in inpatient units and excluded from their communities.  These units are often many miles away from their homes, and they can be detained for years with poor outcomes.

Autistic young people have the right to live in a community of their choosing and with early intervention, these hospital admissions are preventable.

The social cost of autism in the UK has previously been estimated to be £32 billion a year though that figure is now a decade old.  There is a clear argument that early intervention not only helps autistic children and young people achieve the best outcomes but also provides the best social return on investment therefore reducing costs for the taxpayer. 

High quality provision for autistic children in mainstream schools helps to reduce the need for costly specialist places. Similarly, investment in early mental health and social care support reduces the need for costly inpatient admissions.

Currently only 30% of autistic people are in employment, representing a huge waste of talent and potential. Increasing understanding of neurodiversity among employers and government investment in employment programmes would help autistic young people to make a valuable contribution to the economy.

The pandemic has had a disastrous impact on the mental health and wellbeing of autistic children and young people.

Routine, structure and predictability - so crucial in helping autistic children manage an often-challenging world, were stripped away. Meanwhile, disruption to vital support in education and access to mental health services caused an increase in mental health problems and anxiety.

The setbacks faced by autistic young people, already among the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society, will have repercussions for years to come, affecting their health, wellbeing, happiness and ambitions for the future.