Embargo: for publication after 00.01hrs Wednesday 20th October 2004
Study exposes the extra costs of living that drive disabled people deeper into poverty

Disabled people who rely on state benefits or work for the national minimum wage have weekly incomes that are far below the amount they need for an acceptable quality of life. For those who solely depend on benefits, the deficit between the payments they receive and the minimum sum required is £200 a week or more, according to research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The study calculates the costs of essential items, including personal assistance, which people with different levels of disability would need to lead their lives on level terms with non-disabled people. These examples of ‘budget standards’ were drawn up by disabled people in Birmingham, Derby and Nottingham with researchers from the Centre for Research in Social Policy, supported by Disability Alliance.

The research found that disabled people experienced extra costs in most areas of everyday life. These range from major expenditure on essential equipment to routine additional bills for food, clothing, fuel, transport and leisure activities. The budget standards suggest that a disabled person with high to medium mobility and personal support needs would need £533 per week to achieve an acceptable quality of life. The equivalent figure for deaf people and those who are visually impaired is put at £376 a week. This falls to £364 a week for disabled people with fluctuating needs and £345 for those with low to medium needs.

Generally speaking, people with the greatest needs had the highest costs. However, transport costs were greatest for those with fluctuating needs, and communication and leisure costs were highest among deaf people.

Costs for personal assistance were even larger, ranging from £44 per week for those with low to medium needs to £980 per week for those with high to medium needs. Personal assistance includes the cost of interpreters for deaf people and trainers for visually impaired people, as well as personal and home care services.
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The researchers go on to compare their budget standards* with the maximum benefit levels that non-working disabled people in each category could hope to receive – made up of Disability Living Allowance, Income Support and Incapacity Benefit and taking account of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. This points to unmet costs of £200 a week, rising to £230 a week for disabled people with high to medium needs. A comparison between budget standards and the wages of a disabled person working 20 hours a week on the minimum wage (while claiming in-work benefits) revealed a gap in unmet costs ranging between £118 a week for people with low to medium needs and £189 for those with high to medium needs.

Noel Smith, a Research Fellow at the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University and co-author of the study said: “Official statistics show that 30 per cent of disabled people are in poverty but these figures are based on income and don’t take into account the additional costs of disability. Our research highlights just how substantial these additional costs are and so it clearly shows that the extent of poverty among disabled people is seriously under-estimated. Even maximum benefit levels fall well short of meeting the true costs of disability; and it is equally clear that many disabled people in paid work cannot achieve the income required to meet their needs either. Much could be achieved if society was prepared to fund the sort of improved support services that would reduce costs that currently fall on individuals. But disabled people also need more income so they can achieve an acceptable quality of life and come closer to achieving a ‘level playing field’ with non-disabled people.”

Note to Editors

Disabled people’s costs of living: ‘More than you would think’ by Noel Smith, Sue Middleton, Kate Ashton-Brooks, Lynne Cox and Barbara Dobson, with Lorna Reith, is published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and available from York Publishing Services, 64 Hallfield Road, Layerthorpe, York YO31 7ZQ (01904 430033), price £17.95 plus £2 p&p. A summary of findings is available free of charge from JRF, The Homestead, 40 Water End, York Y030 6WP.

The report and findings summary are available by clicking the links in the left margin.

* Personal assistance costs were excluded from the comparison with benefits and minimum pay to take account of the separate help that disabled people might receive from different sources, including local social services and direct payments.

For further information contact:

Sue Middleton (author) 01509 223372
Noel Smith (author) 01509 223372
Lorna Reith (Chief Executive, Disability Alliance) 020-7247 8759

Issued by David Utting, Associate Director (Public Affairs) 020-7278 9665 / david.utting@jrf.org.uk