Disability facts and figures

There are 14.6 million disabled people in the UK.

9% of children are disabled
21% of working age adults are disabled
42% of pension age adults are disabled

Source: Family Resources Survey (2020 to 21)

Disabled people in work

More than 4.7 million disabled people are in work.

The employment rate of disabled people is 53%. Compared to 82% of non-disabled people.

Disabled people are almost twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people, and 3 times as likely to be economically inactive.

The disability employment gap

The disability employment gap is 29%.

The disability employment gap measures the difference between the employment rate of disabled people, compared to that of non-disabled people.

Source: Labour Force Survey October to December 2021

Extra costs

Life costs you £583 more on average a month if you're disabled.

Families of disabled children on average, face extra costs of £581 a month

For almost a quarter (24%) of families with disabled children, extra costs amount to over £1,000 a month.

Source: Scope - The disability price tag (2019)

Poverty

After housing costs, the proportion of working age disabled people living in poverty is 27%. Which is higher than the proportion of working age non-disabled people at 19%.

Source: Scope's analysis based on Households Below Average Income (2019 to 20)

Spending power

The total spending power of families with at least 1 disabled person is estimated at £274 billion a year.

Source: Scope's analysis based on Household Below Average Income (2017 to 18)

Attitudes

1 in 3 disabled people feel there’s a lot of disability prejudice.
1 in 3 people see disabled people as being less productive than non-disabled people.
In 2000, 37% of disabled people and 34% of non-disabled people felt that there was a lot of prejudice around disability. The gap trebled by 2017, with 32% of disabled people and 22% of non-disabled people feeling there is a lot of prejudice against disabled people.

Source: Scope - Disability Perception Gap (2018)

87% of parents of disabled children up to the age of 5 have felt judged by members of the public when they go out with their disabled child.

Source: Scope - Now is the time research (2018)