National Autistic Society
Helping employers to better support their neurodivergent employees and their families
The National Autistic Society supports 700,000 autistic people in the UK and their families through specialist schools, advocacy, and training, transforming lives and promoting autism-friendly attitudes.
The charity’s Autism Support Plus programme was created to address the significant challenges autistic individuals and their families face in accessing timely diagnosis and ongoing support. Many face a postcode lottery in diagnosis, leaving many families waiting in limbo for years.
Through Autism Support Plus, an individual can receive a fast-tracked diagnosis in as little as 10 weeks, followed by tailored support in key areas such as education, employment, and daily life.
Many organisations have now successfully integrated Autism Support Plus into their HR programmes, helping them to better support employees and their families with autism and other neurological conditions.
Every client on the Autism Support Plus programme receives bespoke advisory calls, enabling the charity to thoroughly understand their needs and create a personalised support package. Each member of the Autism Support Plus team has a personal connection and lived experience of autism, ensuring that the service is empathetic as well as effective.
The programme defines its success in relation to several key outcomes: reducing diagnostic wait times; improving employee wellbeing; enhancing workplace inclusivity and providing tangible support.
Since its inception, Autism Support Plus has significantly expanded to include post-diagnosis support in areas such as education, employment, and mental health. It also partnered with the Royal Navy, ensuring that mobile families receive consistent, ongoing support.
The programme has so far helped a total of 501 individuals through its tier-one services, which include advisory information pre-calls; pre-diagnostic consultations; education specialist helplines; access to specialist behavioural advisors and online modules. The programme has generated £160,650 in revenue through selling the service to organisations.
Awards judge André Clarke, director of charity development at Lloyds Bank Foundation, praised the sustainability of the model and said it was clearly filling a gap for many parents who struggled to access support for their children. “And I appreciated their honest reflections on some of the growing pains, but also being clear about opportunities for further ways in which they could develop the service.”
Sharika Sharma, head of business development at CCLA, said it was easy to see the year-on-year progress and expansion of the programme.
CC Reg. no. 269425