Dear Andy Burnham,
My name is Chelsea Webster and I am an autistic campaigner. Last year, I led a campaign to make the Autism Act Committee review more accessible, enabling more autistic people to provide feedback on the success of the Autism Strategy. I was named in The Time to Deliver report for this work and continue to campaign for the welfare and support of autistic people.
I am asking you to support autistic people by committing to a working group made up of diverse people, who can develop a new Autism Strategy, in line with the Autism Act 2009 and recommendations in the 2025 Time to deliver report.
As you may know, the Autism Act 2009 requires the Government to produce an autism strategy that supports autistic people in multiple areas of life including; healthcare, education, public inclusion, work and criminal justice.
Last year, the Autism Act Committee set out to assess ‘how well the Autism Act has been working, how it could work better in the future, and what the current autism strategy has achieved.’
The subsequent report, Time to deliver, concluded that while the Act was ‘vital in driving national and local action to improve autistic people’s lives’, the Act, and its successive autism strategies, had actually ‘failed to tackle the key barriers that stand in the way of improving outcomes.’
Time to deliver also found:
Autistic people face unacceptable inequalities in health outcomes and life expectancy.
The autism assessment system can become a bottleneck, giving overstretched services a means to ration access to support.
Autistic children and young people do not have equal access to education.
Most autistic people are not in work, but many would like to be.
Autistic people are at higher risk of falling through the cracks in systems of support.
Autistic people often fall into gaps between mental health, social care services and other systems of support.
Autistic people are at risk of becoming involved in the criminal justice system, as victims, witnesses, or offenders.
None of this is acceptable. We urgently need a new approach to delivering support to autistic people.
A debate on a new autism strategy was held on the 10th June 2026 and the conclusion was short, simple and clear: ‘we need a new strategy, an implementation plan and accountability, and it is up to the Government now to deliver.’
I am asking you to deliver.
As Health Secretary, you helped bring the Autism Act into law and I am asking you now, as prime minister, to deliver the help the Act set out to provide.
The current autism strategy expires in July 2026. There is no clear timeline or publicly available plan to address the shortcomings of the 2021-2026 strategy or develop a new one. As such, autistic people are in limbo, waiting for the government to act while the current course of action continues to fail us. This puts our health, employment and wellbeing at risk.
You and your government must act now.
As Mayor of Greater Manchester you championed ‘doing with, not to’, so I have faith and hope that you will include diverse autistic people, and carers of autistic people, in the process of creating a new autism strategy.
I am therefore urging you to deliver on the goals of the Autism Act 2009 and commit to the creation of a working group, led by diverse autistic people, to develop a new autism strategy by the Autumn Budget.
Yours Sincerely,
Chelsea Webster
Autistic Campaigner