Don’t forget about us

Disability disproportionately affects the poorer half of Britain. But to fully understand the impact on families, we need to consider not only those directly affected but also the friends and family members who may care for them. This briefing note – part of ‘Unsung Britain’, a year-long programme of work to explore the lives of families on low-to-middle incomes – combines quantitative data with insights from focus groups to explore how disabilities and caring responsibilities affect these families’ lives and living standards.

More than two-fifths of low-to-middle income families include a carer or someone with a disability. This reflects disabled people and carers, on average, have considerably lower incomes and living standards than others. One reason for lower incomes is that disabilities and caring responsibilities can constrain people’s ability to do paid work. And although social security benefits such as the health and carer elements of Universal Credit and Carer’s Allowance offer some support, they often fail to adequately protect family incomes.

Given the significant income penalties and high levels of deprivation facing disabled people and carers, there is a strong case for policy reform. Policy makers should remove as many barriers to paid work as possible, make the social security system more effective at supporting disabled people and carers, and strengthen public services. And the policy debate about disability should extend beyond the increasingly polarised focus on benefit cuts and not forget the reality that disabilities and caring responsibilities are central to the lives of millions of low-to-middle income families