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Developing Budget Standards
for Disabled People
Disabled people have a disproportionate risk of
being poor, i.e. of having an income below 60 per cent of the national
median average. Department
for Work and Pensions statistics for 2002-03 showed that 29
per cent of households with disabled people were poor compared with
17 per cent of households without disabled people. However, these
statistics underestimate the true extent of poverty among disabled
people because they are based solely on income (including disability
benefits), and do not take into account the additional costs disabled
people may incur because of their disabilities.
Although it is well known that disabled people
face additional costs to enable them to meet their needs, there
has been no clear evidence about the true extent of these additional
costs and needs. Consequently, poverty among disabled people cannot
be properly measured, and there is no way of assessing the extent
to which disabled people’s needs and costs are being met by
current benefits and services.
This research, undertaken with the active support of Disability
Alliance, presents budget standards for groups of disabled people
who have different needs arising from physical or sensory impairments.
The budget standards represent the amounts disabled people (of working
age) require in order to cover the costs of an acceptable and equitable
quality of life. They were developed by disabled people themselves,
using a needs-based, consensual budget standard methodology consisting
of a series of rigorously-conducted focus groups and workshops.
The budgets detail all costs for disabled people's households and
lifestyles, from lampshades to motor insurance. The budgets were
not based on 'wish lists'. Rather, they represent the minimum essential
resources necessary to meet disabled people's needs, to enable them
to achieve, as far as possible, a 'level playing field' with non-disabled
people. They were arrived at through debate and negotiation within
the focus groups. The research found that:
Disabled people experience additional costs in
most areas of everyday life, from major expenditure on equipment
essential for independence, to ongoing higher expenses for e.g.
food, clothing, utilities and recreation.
The weekly budget standards required for disabled
people are as follows:
- £1,513 for a person with high–medium
mobility and personal support needs;
- £448 for a person with intermittent or
fluctuating needs (i.e. from relatively negligible needs to higher
needs);
- £389 for a person with low–medium
needs;
- £1,336 for a person with needs arising
from hearing impairment;
- £632 for a person with needs arising
from visual impairment.
Deaf people faced particularly high costs due to
their need for interpreter/communicator services.
The weekly income of disabled people who are solely
dependent on benefits is approximately £200 below the amount
required for them to ensure an acceptable, equitable quality of
life.
Unmet weekly costs for disabled people who work
20 hours per week at the minimum wage are up to £189 (for
those with high–medium needs).
The study used needs-based consensual budget standard
methodology. A total of 78 disabled people completed questionnaires
and participated in a series of focus groups and workshops. Participants
were recruited on the basis of their self-defined needs. Groups
with common needs constructed budget standards for people in their
circumstances (i.e. groups of participants with high–medium
needs developed the budget standard for a person with high–medium
needs, and so forth). All decisions about what should be included
in the budget standards were made by group members through a process
of informed discussion, negotiation and 'check-back' groups. The
fieldwork for the study took place in Derby, Birmingham and Nottingham
in 2003-04.
Sponsor
Joseph Rowntree
Foundation
Project team
Noel Smith, Sue
Middleton, Kate Ashton-Brooks, Lynne
Cox, and Barbara Dobson, with Lorna Reith (Disability
Alliance)
The project commenced in February 2003 and completed
in July 2004.
The research was published by JRF
in October 2004 under the title, ‘Disabled people’s
costs of living: more than you would think’. For copies please
see http://www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop.
JRF Findings are available from
: http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/054.asp
The full report
is available from:
http://www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop/details.asp?pubID=635
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