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Disability Poverty in the UK

The Leonard Cheshire Disability report, "Disability Poverty in the UK", shows that disabled people are twice as likely to live in poverty as non-disabled people. There are an estimated three million disabled people living in relative poverty in the UK .

Disabled people are also more likely to live in poverty today than they were 10 years ago. On average, disabled people’s day-to-day living costs are a quarter (25 per cent) higher than those of non-disabled people.

"Disability Poverty in the UK" calls on the government to urgently develop a strategy to end disability poverty, exposing the missing link in the government’s overall strategy to tackle children’s and older people’s poverty.

The report sets out a number of recommendations on issues, ranging from savings to housing, to help bring about change. It also outlines a series of “indicators” to monitor all aspects of disability poverty, from income to quality of life.

The primary recommendations of this report are that the government commits to:

• end disability poverty, by developing and implementing a specific strategy for tackling the issue
• measure disability poverty as a unique form of poverty, through the use of a series of indicators.

You can find out more information and download both the report and an executive summary from the Leonard Cheshire Disability website.

More information

• leonard cheshire disability website

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