14/10/2011

The rate of poverty increases if a disabled adult lives in same household with half of disabled children living in poverty. Reasons why children with disabilities more likely to live in poverty include:

• Households with disabled children are less likely to be working or are working fewer hours as well as earning less.
• Carers can not invest time into improving their skills to increase their income.
• Not all households claim the welfare benefits they are entitled to. The report asks the government to act in order to lift disabled children out of poverty. The Children’s Society’s recommendations include:
• Government ensures that all households with disabled children take up their full entitlement to disability benefits.
• The Child Poverty and Social Mobility Commission together with the office of Disability Issues form a strategy for eradicating poverty amongst disabled children by 2020.

The Children’s Society is also calling for the government to rethink welfare reforms, which would see over 100,000 disabled children lose up to £27 per week following the introduction of the Universal Credit.

A petition, ‘Don’t let disabled children pay the price of welfare reform’ launched by the Children’s Society and 30 national charities has received 5,000 signatures, more information is available at: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/915

More information about the report is available at: www.childrenssociety.org.uk/news-views/press-release/four-ten-disabled-children-are-living-poverty

www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/tcs/4_in_10_reportfinal.pdf