A new report has revealed an enormous income gap between disabled people and non-disabled people, resulting in many more disabled people unable to afford essentials like heating and food.
Analysis by the Resolution Foundation has found that two in five disabled people were unable to heat their houses this winter, and over a third had to reduce their food spending. This means that disabled people are increasingly vulnerable as the prices of daily necessities continue to rise.
The ‘Costly Differences’ report combines statistical analysis with results from a recent YouGov poll of just under 8,000 working-age individuals (over 2,000 of whom reported a long-term illness or disability,) to assess how working-age adults across the UK with and without disabilities have fared in terms of household income growth over the previous ten years and how they are faring right now.
In 2020–21, the disposable income disparity between disabled people and non-disabled people was 44%. And while this figure has reduced from 54% since 2010, the disparity is still large enough to exacerbate the effects of the cost-of-living crisis.
To read the ‘Costly Differences’ report in full, please visit the Resolution Foundation’s website.
Arun & Chichester Citizens advice have put together an excellent resource called ‘Manage your money‘ which provides information, hints and tips to help people with cost of living. The majority of information in the resource is applicable to anyone who lives in England, so you do not need to live in West Sussex to find it beneficial.
