Welsh Disability Poverty

The Disability News Service (DNS) website was given exclusive figures from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on poverty in Wales. The information was on top of a separate report by the foundation, which found [pdf, p1] that 39% of disabled people in Wales live in income poverty – the highest levels in the UK. This compared to 22% of non-disabled people in Wales.

But DNS claims that the figures the foundation gave it show “the increase in poverty levels appears to have started at around the time the Conservative-led coalition government came to power in 2010”. They showed that the proportion of working-age disabled people in poverty in Wales was:

• 28% in the three years from 2008-09 to 2010-11.
• 27% in the three years from 2009-10 to 2011-12.

This then rose to:

• 37% in the three years from 2012-13 to 2014-15.
• 39% in the years from 2013-14 to 2015-16.

Miranda Evans, policy and programmes manager for Disability Wales (DW) told DNS:"The sharp increase in disability poverty is very concerning indeed. Many would put this down to welfare reform and the cuts to disability benefits. However, because JRF does not take into account ‘disability costs benefits’ like PIP in calculating the rates of disability poverty, this tells us that this increase is not solely down to welfare reform. We cannot simply point to cuts in disability benefits as being the cause in Wales. Much more must be done to address the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people. The lack of flexible, well-paid job opportunities is a barrier for many disabled people."

South Wales Socialist Party Branch 

Saturday, 14 April 

12:00pm - 2:00pm

29 Park Place, 

Cardiff CF10 3BA