What Commissioners Need From OTs, What OTs Need From Providers, and What Everyone Needs From the System

0​5 June 2026

Charlotte Downing hosts a rare conversation between the people who assess, the people who implement, and the people who commission sustainable independence for autistic adults and people with learning disabilities

If you're an OT, you know this frustration: You complete a thorough assessment. You identify that technology could help someone manage their daily routine independently. You make a recommendation and the systems in place can’t adapt quickly enough.

If you're a commissioner, you know this challenge: You want to commission approaches that enable independence, reduce demand, and improve outcomes. But the frameworks don't quite fit. The evidence is there, but translating it into contracts and budgets is harder than it should be.

If you're a care provider, you know this gap: Technology arrives. Staff aren't sure how to support it. The person isn't confident using it. It sits unused. Everyone's disappointed.

What if the problem isn't that any one role is doing it wrong but that we're not talking to each other about what we each need to make it work?

That's the conversation happening on the 18th of June.

The Panel

Charlotte Downing, TSA Interim Head of Membership, is hosting a panel that brings these perspectives into the same room:

• Dr Carly Jones MBE will challenge us on the hidden harm of doing everything FOR people. When we manage someone's life instead of enabling them to manage their own, we take away their agency - and often create the very dependency we claim to be preventing. The Care Act 2014 makes independence a wellbeing outcome, not an aspiration. So why do we hesitate to offer autistic adults and people with LD the same support approaches that enable older adults to maintain theirs?

• Amanda Shelvey and Gemma Tomasso, Senior Occupational Therapists from Dorset Council's TEC team, will share what they need from commissioners and providers to make technology prescriptions succeed - and what tells them when technology isn't the right approach at all.

• Amy Lewis, Managing Director at Just Checking, sees what happens when technology enters someone's home. She'll share what makes the difference between life-changing and unused, and what information she needs from OTs to set implementation up for success.

• Verity from PA Consulting will address the systems-level barriers stopping collaboration - why outcome-based commissioning remains elusive, and what commissioners need to shift from pilots to strategic investment.

This isn't a presentation. It's a conversation. What does each role need from the others? Where do handovers break down? What one change would close the gap between good intentions and sustained independence?

What You'll Learn

If you're an OT, you'll hear:

• What providers need from your assessments to set implementation up for success
• What commissioners need to commission cognitive support with confidence
• What changes would make your prescriptions more likely to succeed
• When to stay involved post-prescription and when to hand over

If you're a commissioner, you'll hear:

• What OTs need to assess effectively within your frameworks
• What providers need to implement successfully
• How to shift from commissioning hours to commissioning outcomes
• What stops you commissioning at scale even when the evidence is there

If you're a provider, you'll hear:

• What information OTs can give you at handover (and what they can't)
• What commissioners expect from outcome-based approaches
• What makes technology implementation succeed or fail in the first few weeks
• When to reduce care packages as sustained independence improves

And everyone will hear what the system needs to improve.

The Implementation Gap

Budget pressures. Staff shortages. Rising demand. Complex needs. These are real challenges every commissioner, provider, and practitioner faces.

Could cognitive support technology be part of the answer? The evidence suggests it can be - when it's the right approach, for the right person, with the right implementation support.

But too often, good assessments don't translate to sustained outcomes. PA Consulting's and TSA’s TEC Outlook 2026 report identified this persistent challenge: the gap between what technology-enabled care promises and what it delivers in practice.

The question isn't whether cognitive support can enable sustainable independence for autistic adults and people with learning disabilities. The question is: what stops it from working more often and what are some services doing differently?

The Conversation

This conference explores that question honestly. Not with sales pitches. Not with perfect case studies. With real practitioners sharing what they've learned.

What happens at the handover moment when an OT assessment identifies technology as potentially helpful? Who's responsible for what? What information needs to flow between roles - and what's typically missing?

When someone's been using technology for 12 months and is managing independently - what happens next? How do you review? When is it right to reduce care packages, and when does that become withdrawal of support disguised as independence?

How do we shift to contracts that reward providers for enabling independence rather than maintaining dependency? What does outcome-based commissioning actually look like in practice?

What role should the person themselves have in all these decisions?

These are the questions commissioners, OTs, and providers are grappling with every day. On the 18th of June, we're bringing those perspectives together.

The Community

This conference is the launch of the LD & Autism Enablement Community - a year-round practitioner network where commissioners, providers, and OTs share what works, what doesn't, and what they're learning.

Beyond the 18th of June, the community will offer:

• Regular webinars on specific challenges (assessment frameworks, implementation support, commissioning approaches)
• Bi-monthly newsletters with UK and international case studies
• Peer connections with colleagues facing similar challenges
• A space to build evidence together for what enables sustainable independence

No one has this all figured out. But together, we're building the picture.

Join Us

Thursday 18th of June 2026

09:00-13:00

Thistle London Heathrow Terminal 5

Free to attend

The conference is designed for commissioners, care providers, OTs, and sector organisations who are trying to close the gap between assessment and sustained independence.

The gap won't close itself. But it might close faster if we talk to each other about what we each need.

Register here: https://www.abilia.com/en/events/cognitive-support-june

Because sustainable independence isn't just an OT challenge, or a commissioner challenge, or a provider challenge. It's a system challenge - and we need the system in the room.