Publication, Part of Autism Waiting Time Statistics
Autism Statistics, July 2024 to June 2025
Experimental statistics, Official statistics in development
Sub-ICB, ICB and Region breakdowns
In the previous edition of this publication, we issued a notice informing users that there was an issue with the sub-ICB, ICB and Region breakdowns affecting all financial years up to and including April 2023 to March 2024.
This issue meant the figures in the "Unknown" group were much higher than they should have been. All affected csv files were removed whilst we investigated the issue.
The issue has now been resolved, and all affected breakdowns and csv files are now reinstated for all time periods as of this edition.
There is, however, a minor outstanding issue affecting a limited amount of subnational 2019-20 data.
As a result, metrics ASD16f, ASD16g, ASD16h, ASD16i, ASD16j, ASD16k, ASD25, ASD25a and ASD25b within the ‘AutismStats_Apr2019_Mar2020_Region’ and ‘AutismStats_Apr2019_Mar2020_ICB’ CSV files are currently omitted. All other files contain the full set of metrics across the full time series
NHS England apologises for any inconvenience.
14 August 2025 09:30 AM
Psych UK Limited data submissions from February 2025 onwards
A statement was included in the previous edition of this publication to note that the Psych UK Limited (DQT) provider submitted a single data submission for February 2025, leading to a peak in the number of open referrals for patients of all ages (ASD16, ASD16a and data quality metric ASD11) and for patients aged 18 years and over (ASD16d, ASD16e and data quality metric ASD11b) at England level in February 2025, followed by a drop the next month as they had not submitted any March 2025 data as of publication date. Our methodology to calculate the number of open referrals each month relies on a record for each referral being flowed in the month.
Psych UK Limited (DQT) has subsequently submitted March 2025 data, as well as data for all months since up to June 2025, and this is reflected in this edition of the publication. As a result, the increase for these measures between January and February 2025 is not a true reflection of increased activity but is in part a result of Psych UK Limited being included in these statistics from February 2025 onwards. Users can gain some understanding of the potential impact using the provider-level measures for Psych UK Limited (DQT) included in this publication.
14 August 2025 09:30 AM
Summary
These statistics present a group of measures on waiting times for autism spectrum disorder diagnostic pathways, based on the time between a referral for suspected autism and the first care contact associated with that referral.
There are also multiple breakdowns based on the progression and outcomes of those referrals.
Each of these measures contributes to an overall picture of waiting times for diagnostic pathways. The approach is outlined in the methodology section of this publication.
Highlights
Autism assessments for children and adolescents happen in two types of NHS service, child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) services and community paediatric services which undertake neurodevelopmental assessment. Activity in CAMH services is reported alongside adult mental healthcare activity in the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS) and is included in this report. Activity in community paediatric services is reported through the Community Services Dataset (CSDS). Currently autism assessments are not clearly identifiable in CSDS and so cannot be included at present.
We are exploring developments in the identification of this activity in the CSDS with the intention of including this activity in future reports.
Methodological Change
From the September 2023 publication onwards, the methodology used for the specified measures below within the Autism Waiting Time Statistics will include the following change.
We have changed the way that a referral for ‘suspected autism’ is counted as open. Previously, open and close dates in the latest submitted version of a referral were used to determine which months the referral is counted as open. Data submitted to MHSDS includes a row of data for each referral for each unique month that the referral is open. After consulting with providers and carrying out some exploratory analysis into how effective providers are at closing referrals in the system and looking into why referrals remain open for a long period of time, we have agreed to implement a change in the logic of how we calculate open referrals in the publication. The new methodology will only count the referrals as open in the months when a row of data has been submitted or flowed. This means we can be sure that the referrals that are flowed each month are definitely active and we can be confident that this number of open referrals provides a more accurate view of this.
For more information on the scope of the Methodological Change please follow this link.
Access the code used to create this report
The code used to create the outputs for this report is available on our NHS Digital GitHub webpage.
Data Quality
Figures should be interpreted with caution as Data Quality issues may be present in the data used to create the measures. Please see the 'Data Quality Comments' available from here which contains details of providers who have reported Data Quality issues.
Key Facts
Referral Waiting Times
In June 2025, there were 236,225 patients with an open referral for suspected autism. Of these, 211,104 (89.4%) had a referral that had been open at least 13 weeks.
First Appointments
In June 2025, 4.1% (8,627) of the patients with an open referral that had been open more than 13 weeks had had a first appointment within the recommended 13 weeks.
Open/Closed Referrals
There were 9,929 new referrals and 10,642 closed referrals in June 2025. This is a decrease of 18.5% for new referrals and an increase of 18.1% for closed referrals compared to June 2024.
Waiting time from referral to care contact dashboard
Open the interactive dashboard This tool is in Microsoft Power BI which does not fully support all accessibility needs. If you need further assistance, please contact us for help.
Resources
Last edited: 14 August 2025 10:15 am