Debate on e-petitions 610300 and 617425, relating to the cost of living and financial support for disabled people

How disabled people are affected by the rising cost of living

High inflation in 2022 and 2023 has been driven by high energy and food costs. Disabled people spend a larger proportion of their total spending on these items, so are disproportionately affected by recent rises in the cost of living.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics, in 2021, households with a disabled member spent 14.4% of their overall spending on food, while households with no disabled members spent 12.1% of their spending on food. Disabled people also often face higher energy costs, as many need more heating to stay warm, and others have to use extra electricity to use and charge assistive technology.

Disabled people also have lower incomes than average: the Resolution Foundation found in January 2023 that the gap in household income between adults with and without a disability was around 30% including disability benefits and 44% excluding disability benefits in the financial year 2020-21. A third of adults in the lowest household income decile are disabled.

Citizens Advice reported in May 2023 that 60.5% of people it has helped with crisis support (including food banks and charitable support) since January 2022 have been disabled or had a long-term health issue.

Benefits support

In 2022/23, the Government introduced additional Cost of Living Payments for recipients of certain benefits and tax credits:

• A £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment for recipients of certain non-means-tested disability benefits, including PIP and AA.
• A £650 Cost of Living Payment, payable in two instalments, to recipients of certain means-tested benefits including Universal Credit, most of the legacy benefits and tax credits it is replacing (except Housing Benefit), and Pension Credit.
• A £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment, paid as an addition to the Winter Fuel Payment, to households with at least one person entitled to a Winter Fuel Payment for winter 2022/2023.

A further set of Cost of Living Payments will be awarded to recipients of the same benefits and tax credits over the course of 2023/24. The payments will be made to recipients of the same benefits as the 2022/23 Cost of Living Payments, although payments for means-tested benefit recipients will total £900 rather than £650 and will be made in three instalments.

Petition 617245 calls on the Government to “Make people on disability benefits eligible for the £650 one off payment”. Most disability benefits are qualifying benefits for Cost of Living Payments of some kind: those getting non-means-tested disability benefits can qualify for the £150 payments in both 2022/23 and 2023/24. Disabled people who get means-tested benefits could qualify for the £650/900 payments.

Some claimants of non-means-tested disability benefits have complained the support provided to them is not sufficient, or not as generous as that provided for other groups.

When asked to extend the larger amount to claimants of non-means tested benefits such as PIP, the Government has said it prioritises targeting support on low-income households who get means-tested benefits.