Have Your Say: Public Consultation on New Learning Disability Service Model

Public Consultation on New Learning Disability Service Model — We Matter

ARC NI is encouraging everyone to respond to the Department of Health’s public consultation on a new Learning Disability Service Model for adults in Northern Ireland.

In particular, we urge Experts By Experience to take part in this consultation. The 14-week consultation, launched by Health Minister Mike Nesbitt, represents a major opportunity to shape the future of learning disability services — and your voice matters.

Despite progress, people with a learning disability in Northern Ireland still face significant inequalities in areas like health, education, housing, and employment. Services can be fragmented, difficult to navigate, and slow to respond. This new Model aims to change that — by defining what good support should look like and setting out a roadmap for how services can better meet the needs of people and families.

What makes this Model stand out is the central role of lived experience in shaping it. Over 3,600 people — including individuals with a learning disability, carers, and practitioners — have already contributed their insight, and now it’s time for the wider public to have their say.

The Model is built around six ambitions:

• Life Changes – Support through key life stages and transitions
• Health and Wellbeing – Better access to health care and tackling inequalities

• Families and Carers – More emotional, practical and respite support
• Meaningful Lives and Citizenship – Opportunities for education, work and inclusion
• Home – Supporting people to live independently, in their own homes
• Mental Health and Behaviours of Concern – Timely, joined-up specialist support

This consultation is more than a formality — it’s a call to action. The Department of Health wants to hear directly from people who know what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to change.

📅 Deadline for responses: 5pm, 25 November 2025

🔗 Have your say now:
Learning Disability Service Model | Department of Health

At ARC NI, we believe that people with a learning disability have the same rights as everyone else — to live with dignity, be part of their communities, and access the support they need. This is your chance to help build a system that says clearly and confidently: We Matter.

* ARC NI will be hosting Consultation Workshops for people with a learning disability and providers – Stay tuned. *