Disability Price Tag 2024
Warning Content warning
This page, and the report, describe experiences of financial, physical, and emotional distress. As described by disabled people and their household members.
For best viewing of this report on a mobile, first download Microsoft Word from the Apple Store or Google Store. Please view in print layout mode when you open the report in Word.
What is the Disability Price Tag?
Life costs more if you’re disabled. This report by Scope uses data from the Family Resources Survey to calculate the extra costs faced by disabled households. We call this the ‘Disability Price Tag’.
For this report, 31 members of disabled households took part in interviews. They told how managing household finances alongside extra costs impacted them and their families' lives.
What did the report find?
Our report found that extra costs for disabled households continued to rise in the 2022 to 2023 financial year.*
Our analysis shows:
- On average, disabled households need an additional £1,010 a month to have the same standard of living as non-disabled households.
- On average, the extra cost of disability is equivalent to 67% of household income after housing costs.
The Disability Price Tag is based on the most recently available data at the time of analysis (which was from 2022 to 2023). If we adjust the figure to understand what it might look like in 2024, these extra costs go up to £1,067 a month.
Living with the of extra cost of disability
Disabled people and their families face daily financial and emotional battles because of these extra costs.
The financial struggle with extra costs is ongoing. And has a detrimental impact on the health and wellbeing of disabled people. At the very worst, this can be life-threatening.
Here’s what they shared:
AdrianaIt's very expensive to be disabled. It's anything from the clothes you wear, to the products you need, to the food you put in your mouth.
HeidiIn winter, I have to have the heating on all the time. I can't just have it on at set times. The temperature needs to be at a constant temperature for me, otherwise my pain increases and I'm cold. Then I'm in agony.
AyeshaBecause of [my son’s conditions], or him being incontinent, the water bill is a lot higher. There is a lot more washing. Every time he soils himself, you know, I have to wash him constantly.
What needs to change?
Our report sets out 6 urgent policy changes to support disabled households with extra costs.
- Fix the broken benefits system so that it is fairer, more transparent, and better supports disabled people with their extra costs.
- Work Capability Assessment (WCA) must be replaced with an improved alternative. This must be based on input from disabled people and include fairer assessment criteria.
- Work alongside disabled people to design a new positive vision for Personal Independence Payment (PIP). At minimum, the benefit must be enhanced so it covers the essentials and assessments must be fairer.
- Make sure essential utilities are always affordable for disabled people. This must include introducing a discounted energy bills scheme. Disability benefits must also be included in the eligibility criteria for the Warm Home Discount.
- Introduce a government-funded ‘help to repay’ scheme. This will help disabled people to clear their debt on essential utilities.
- Government must make sure energy efficiency spending is better targeted towards disabled households.
About our research panel
The participants in this research are all part of the Scope Research Panel. The Panel is a group of more than 3,000 disabled people and parents and carers of disabled children. They tell us about their lived experience which helps us in all aspects of our work. You can join the Scope Research Panel here.
Support and advice
We know life costs more for disabled people. Find more help with bills and the cost of living.
If the content of this report has affected you, you may like to speak to someone about it. You can contact our helpline by email at helpline@scope.org.uk, or call us on 0808 800 3333.
If you need to talk to someone urgently, please call Samaritans on 116 123, Mind on 0300 123 3393 or text Shout on 85258.
Previous Disability Price Tag reports
2023 Disability Price Tag report
2019 Disability Price Tag policy report
2019 Disability Price Tag technical report
2018 Disability Price Tag policy report
2018 Disability Price Tag technical report
*The latest Disability Price Tag figure is not directly comparable to previously published figures. This is because we improved our method for calculating the statistical modelling of the Disability Price Tag figure, so the statistical modelling is slightly different to last year.