Disability and poverty
Disabled people face a higher risk of poverty due to extra costs, barriers to work and benefits that often fail to provide a sufficient income.
Disabled people have persistently higher poverty rates than non-disabled people, and this gap has proved difficult to shift over time. After narrowing between 2007/08 and 2011/12, the gap widened again from 2011/12 to 2013/14 and has remained at a similar level since. During the pandemic, poverty among disabled people fell temporarily, likely reflecting additional support introduced at that time. Rates returned to around their pre-pandemic level in 2021/22 before declining slightly in the most recent period. In 2023/24, the poverty rate for disabled people fell by 1 percentage point, from 29% to 28%.
| Group | Poverty rate |
|---|---|
| Disabled child | 31% |
| Disabled working-age adult | 33% |
| Disabled pensioner | 19% |
| Not disabled child | 31% |
| Not disabled working-age adult | 17% |
| Not disabled pensioner | 15% |
Source: Households Below Average Income, 2023/24, DWP
Overall, the poverty rate for disabled people is 28%, around 8 percentage points higher than for people who are not disabled. The difference is particularly stark among working-age adults: disabled working-age adults are almost twice as likely to live in poverty as those who are not disabled (33% compared with 17%), although there is no difference in poverty rate for disabled and non-disabled children. Disabled pensioners have a poverty rate of 19%, compared to 15% for non-disabled.
| Disability mix within the family | Poverty rate |
|---|---|
| No one disabled | 18% |
| Disabled adults only | 28% |
| Disabled children only | 24% |
| Disabled adults and children | 33% |
Source: Households Below Average Income, 2023/24, DWP
Families that include disabled adults or children face much higher poverty rates. A key driver is lower employment among disabled people and within households where someone is disabled.
Between April and June 2024, just over half of disabled working-age adults (53%) were in employment, compared with more than 8 in 10 non-disabled working-age adults (82%). This represents a disability employment gap of 29 percentage points. The gap is larger for men, people aged 50–64, and people living in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the North of England. Disabled people with a mental health condition or with 5 or more conditions have the lowest employment rates (DWP, 2025).
Lower employment rates among disabled people contribute directly to higher poverty rates. While employment reduces the risk of poverty, disabled people face greater barriers to accessing and sustaining work, particularly those with mental health conditions or multiple impairments.
The poverty rate for adults with a mental health condition has consistently been higher than for those with physical disabilities and those with no disability.
Data source
The data on this page is part of the UK poverty statistics dashboard. The data is initially derived from our UK Poverty 2026 report, which includes an Excel download in the appendix.