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Poverty: Disability

Asked by Richard BurgonLabourDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled Answered 14 March 2025UIN 37231

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of disabled households that will be in poverty by financial year (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27, (c) 2027-28 and (d) 2028-29.

Answered by Alison McGovern

Making an estimate of future disability poverty rates is difficult to do robustly. It would involve both projecting forward the impact of economic conditions on every household’s income and individual circumstance, and future trends in disability prevalence and distribution.

Statistics on the number of people in families with a disabled person are published annually in the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics publication, available here: Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK. The latest statistics show that in 2022/23 there were 6.2m (24%) people in families where someone is disabled in relative poverty after housing costs (AHC).

Data for 2023/24 will be published on 27th March 2025.

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