Estimating the additional costs of living with a disability in the United Kingdom between 2013 and 2016

Abstract

In the United Kingdom, more than 20% of the population live with a disability. Past evidence shows that being disabled is associated with functional limitations that often cause social exclusion and poverty. Therefore, it is necessary to analyse the connection between disability and poverty. This paper examines whether households with disabled members face extra costs of living to attain the same standard of living as their peers without disabled members. The modelling framework is based on the standard of living approach which estimates the extra income required to close the gap between households with and without disabled members. We apply an ordered logit regression to data from the Family Resources Survey between 2013 and 2016 to analyse the relationship between standard of living, income, and disability, conditional on other explanatory variables. We find that households with disabled members face considerable extra costs that go beyond the transfer payment of the government. The average household with disabled members saw their weekly extra costs continually increase from £293 in 2013 to £326 in 2016 [2020 prices]. Therefore, the government needs to adjust welfare policies to address the problem of extra costs faced by households with disabled members.

Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditures Associated with Chronic Health Conditions and Disability in China

“…An extensive international literature base has been developed to estimate the extra costs of living with a disability. Several studies have used a standard of living approach, which is an indirect method designed to identify the changes in the relationship between income and utility to estimate the extra costs of living with a disability [10][11][12][13]. Schuelke et al (2021) compare the cost of living for households with disabled members and without disabled members in the UK and found that the average extra cost of living with a disability accounts for half of the median household income per week from 2013 to 2015 [10].…”

“…Several studies have used a standard of living approach, which is an indirect method designed to identify the changes in the relationship between income and utility to estimate the extra costs of living with a disability [10][11][12][13]. Schuelke et al (2021) compare the cost of living for households with disabled members and without disabled members in the UK and found that the average extra cost of living with a disability accounts for half of the median household income per week from 2013 to 2015 [10]. Similarly, for the United States, Morris et al (2021) found that disabled households require 28% more income to obtain the same standard of living as a comparable household without a disabled member [11].…”

Disability-Related Costs of Children with Disabilities in the Philippines

“…The SOL approach has been used to understand disability-related costs in Cambodia, China, Ghana, Turkey, the United Kingdom (UK), the United States, and Vietnam [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Extra costs associated with disability have been found to vary by severity of impairment, employment status, and gender [ 3 ].…”

“…In Turkey, disability-related expenses accounted for up to 23% of household incomes [ 12 ]. UK government transfer payments fell behind rising disability-related costs for households between 2013 and 2016 [ 14 ]. In Kenya, increased parenting stress was identified among poor households with a family member with disabilities [ 17 ].…”