9 February 2006 - Updated estimate of the numbers of disabled people including people with limiting longstanding illnesses, and their associated spending power
The Department for Work and Pensions has updated its estimates which show there are over 10 million disabled people in Britain, including people with limiting longstanding illnesses; of which, 4.6 million are over State Pension Age and 700,000 are children.
| Disabled people in Great Britain, including people with limiting longstanding illnesses - figures are in millions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Children | Adults | All ages |
| 2002-03 | 0.7 | 9.7 | 10.4 |
| 2003-04 | 0.7 | 9.5 | 10.1 |
The annual spending power of disabled adults is unchanged and is still around £80 billion.
Both estimates use data from the Family Resources Survey.
Notes to editors
- This estimate covers the number of people with a longstanding illness, disability or infirmity, and who have a significant difficulty with day-to-day activities. It is based on data taken from the Family Resources Survey (FRS).
- Everyone in this group would meet the definition of disability in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA); however, these estimates do not reflect the total number of people covered by the DDA as the FRS does not collect this information.
- The figures are estimates based on a sample survey and are therefore subject to sampling variation. Caution should be exercised in the interpretation of small year-on-year fluctuations and identification of trends should be based on several years of data.
- The estimates are based on sample counts that have been adjusted for non-response using multi-purpose grossing factors which align the FRS to Government Office Region populations by age and sex. Estimates are subject to sampling error and remaining response bias.
- Spending power has also been estimated using data from the FRS and is defined
as ‘Income from all sources received by an individual including earnings,
tax credits, investments and occupational pensions/annuities, benefit income
(including child benefit and income related benefits), and income from other
sources (including maintenance income from an absent partner paid in respect
of either spouse or children)’.
- less income tax payments and National Insurance contributions
- plus Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit payments, apportioned across household adults where appropriate
- plus income from letting or sub-letting, apportioned across household adults where appropriate
- less housing costs, apportioned across household adults where appropriate
Housing costs include the following:
- Domestic rates/Council Tax (gross of Council Tax Benefit)
- Rent (gross of Housing Benefit)
- Mortgage interest rates (net of tax relief)
- Structural insurance premiums (for owner occupiers)
- Ground rent and service charges
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