ALMOST £20 MILLION has been spent on residents with learning disabilities and their families, according to Wokingham Borough Council.

The council announced that it had spent £19.8 million on more than 500 of its vulnerable residents who have learning disabilities.

Over 150 support groups across the borough, including local charity CLASP and the Wokingham Learning Disability Publishing Board (LDPB) have been consulted by the council on spending, in order to improve the lives of those living in the borough.

The decision-making executive for Wokingham Borough Council approved the learning disability strategy on December 27.

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Cllr Charles Margetts, exec member for health, wellbeing and adult services, said: “Wokingham Borough has the second highest learning disabled population needing support in the south east.

"With this in mind it is not surprising that we spend a significant proportion of our funding on supporting and caring for people with a learning disability.”

"Our strategy sets out what the council proposes to do to meet this need and its approach to addressing increased pressure on its finite resources.

"We thank all our local charities and volunteer groups for their support in shaping our strategy.

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"We value all the feedback we have received and want to ensure that all our residents feel valued and supported.

"We are proud of our successful record of helping our adults with learning disabilities into paid employment, allowing them to feel more past of the community.

"We are currently second out of 150 local authorities in the country and we hope through the ambitious plans we have set out within our strategy, together with a new dedicated Learning Disabilities team within the Adult Social Care department, we will continue to support our residents to allow them to choose the way they wish to live their lives."