Norfolk Autism Partnership Board

Meeting summary

Norfolk Autism Partnership Board Meeting Summary
Meeting Date: 30th September 2025
Location: Microsoft Teams
Duration: 13:00 - 15:00

Purpose of the Meeting
The Norfolk All Age Autism Partnership Board (NAPB) met to discuss updates on autism services, review progress on the Norfolk Autism Strategy, share recent findings on autism support needs, and to plan future actions involving autistic people, their families, and professionals working in autism support and related services.

Attendance
The meeting was attended by board members from various organisations including Norfolk County Council, the Integrated Care Board (ICB), Norfolk Constabulary, Healthwatch Norfolk, Family Voice Norfolk, and voluntary sector groups, alongside autistic individuals and parent/carers. Apologies were received from some members.

Main Updates and Discussions

Adult Autism Diagnostic Service Transition and Waiting List
From 1st June 2025, responsibility for adult autism diagnostic services moved from Norfolk County Council to Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board. The current provider, ABL Health (Be U Norfolk), offers adult autism assessments and goal-based navigation support for up to 12 weeks to people waiting for assessment.

There were 1,275 people transferred from the previous provider, with only 17 initially accepting navigation support, likely due to a lack of awareness. As of 14th August 2025, there were 1,208 individuals still waiting for assessment, with the longest wait being 2-3 years, and an estimated wait of over 5 years for new referrals. About 20 new GP referrals had been received since June. Navigation support uptake was low but is now being automatically offered to all new referrals to support them during their wait.

Data collection on assessments was being improved, including outcomes and the number of assessments completed. Most referrals led to a positive autism diagnosis. Work was ongoing to gather more data for children and young people. There is no budget limit for ‘Right to Choose’ assessments, meaning all valid assessment invoices must be paid.

Support Pathways Working Group
The group aims to improve autism support services by sharing information and encouraging services to contribute to the Norfolk Autism Directory. It is working on a Norfolk Autism Quality Mark to identify high-quality, accessible services. Since the last meeting, six new applications were received to join the group, including autistic people and parent/carers, although two professionals withdrew their applications. There remains an open invitation for more autistic people or parent/carers to join.

Recruitment to the Board
An active recruitment drive is underway to increase representation of autistic people and parent/carers on the Board. Current representation includes 4 autistic people and 4 parent/carers out of 25 members. Since the last meeting, 11 people applied to join, with 3 withdrawing and several invited as guests or placed on waiting lists for working groups. There is no fixed limit to the number of autistic board members, but the overall balance is considered.

Young People Autism Advisory Group (YPAAG)
The YPAAG brings together autistic young people aged 11-18 to provide feedback directly to the Board. Members meet every two months to discuss priorities from the autism strategy in easy-to-understand language. Recent feedback highlighted concerns about overcrowded classrooms, homework overload, the importance of choosing a trusted adult at school, difficulties with school transitions, lack of autism awareness among peers, worries about relevant work experience, and considerable uncertainty about life after school.

The YPAAG is facilitated by Gemma Hall from ASD Helping Hands. Members are open to virtual professional involvement but prefer no in-person attendance.

Norfolk Autism Strategy Oversight Group (NASOG) Update
The Group reviewed the Year One Plan progress for July 2025. Good progress includes autism training delivered to nearly 300 educational settings, the establishment of YPAAG, and challenges made to the Care Quality Commission regarding co-production approaches during inspections. However, some planned actions in the Local Area Improvement Plan had not progressed as expected and were still in development.

The Group is co-producing a ‘You Said, We Did’ document to share achievements and improvements from Year One. This will be presented at the next Board meeting in November and made available online. A draft Year Two Plan is also being prepared with reworded actions in plain English, due for review by NASOG in October and for wider approval later in the year.

Intensive Support Service Study Update
Paul Longe, a clinical psychologist and husband to a late-diagnosed autistic person, provided an overview of a study into autism intensive support in mental health services. The study found that many clinicians feel uncertain or frustrated about how best to support autistic adults with complex mental health needs. Common issues included long waiting times for diagnosis, difficulty recognising autistic traits, lack of autism-informed services, insufficient post-diagnostic support, and challenges managing risk and crises.

The study made multiple recommendations including developing autism-specific training for health staff, embedding autism awareness in team practices, collaborating with local authorities to improve services and research, improving early autism screening in mental health and primary care settings, adapting electronic patient records to highlight autism needs, creating consultation spaces for shared learning, and designing care pathways that are inclusive of neurodiversity.

Actions and Next Steps
Lee Gibbons (NAPB Co-ordinator) will investigate the availability of post-diagnostic tools from the previous diagnostic service and explore options for hosting these tools on the Norfolk Autism Partnership Board website.
Lee Gibbons will arrange for a further agenda item on the Autism Intensive Support Service at a future Board meeting to continue discussion.
The Autism Strategy Oversight Group will meet on 7 October and 3 November to continue co-producing the ‘You Said, We Did’ document and the Year Two Plan.
The next Norfolk Autism Partnership Board meeting will be held on Tuesday 25th November 2025 from 13:00 to 15:00. This meeting will consider the Year Two Plan and approve the ‘You Said, We Did’ document.
Lee Gibbons will attend UEA’s Disability Week event in October and is seeking another autistic individual to join him in speaking about autism and stigma.

Future Meeting Dates
The following Board meetings are scheduled:
25th November 2025
27th January 2026
31st March 2026
26th May 2026
28th July 2026
29th September 2026

Additional Information
A glossary of terms related to autism can be found on the Norfolk Autism Partnership website.

Summary Prepared From The Official NAPB Meeting Minutes Agreed on 25th November 2025.