Inequalities and challenges experienced by disabled people in Scotland: evidence review
This evidence review synthesises available evidence on the inequalities (where comparable data is available) and challenges experienced by disabled people in Scotland drawing on research from the period 2019 to 2025.
Poverty
As explored in the previous chapters, evidence suggests that disabled people are disproportionately impacted by barriers to employment and higher living costs associated with disability, which may in turn mean they are likely to experience poverty[85]. The following chapter discusses evidence about disabled people’s experiences of poverty.
The Scottish Government reported on poverty rates (See Appendix 6 for definitions of poverty measures) for disabled people across a 3-year period of 2021-2024 and highlighted that poverty rates are higher for households in which someone is disabled in comparison to households without a disabled member[86]. In 2021-24, the poverty rate after housing costs for people in households with a disabled person was 23% which amounts to 550,000 people each year. This compares with 17% (510,000 people) in a household without disabled household members[87].
However, disabled people in Scotland face additional costs associated with managing their disabilities which can lead to poverty[88]. Disabled people report that they pay high prices for essentials such as food and utilities, due to increased usage requirements and the need for specialist items, care and treatments to manage their disability[89]. This has been exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis in which the cost of everyday items has increased[90]. Food costs also rose for disabled people during the pandemic due to the increased need to shop online and associated delivery costs[91]. These increased costs can have a negative impact on disabled people by increasing debt and forcing them to make choices between essential items such as heating or food which can make health conditions and disabilities worse[92].
The Scottish Government presents a second disability poverty measure which excludes disability payments from analysis. This aims to partly account for additional living costs incurred by a disability to allow a more balanced comparison of households with and without a disabled household member. This analysis shows that the poverty rate was 26% (640,000 people each year) for people living with a disabled household member, and 16% (470,000 people) for those without, demonstrating that both with and without disability benefits, households with a disabled member experience higher rates of poverty than those without a disabled member.
Inclusion Scotland noted that the increased cost of electricity and broadband leads to digital exclusion for disabled people. These higher costs act as a barrier to using assistive technology and can prevent some disabled people from accessing support and online platforms including the Universal Credit online Journal which could impact access to benefits[93]. Evidence suggests that disabled people face digital exclusion which can have negative impact on disabled people’s connection to wider society and important information[94]. The Scottish Household Survey 2019 revealed that 71% of adults with limiting long-term physical or mental health condition or illness reported using the internet, which is lower than adults with a non-limiting condition at 90% and those who had no condition or illness at 94%[95].
UK disability charity SCOPE estimated that, for the year 2024 to 2025, disabled households needed on average an additional £1,095 a month to have the same standard of living as non-disabled households[96]. The extra cost of disability for SCOPE’s report was measured by comparing the difference in the standard of living between disabled and non-disabled households. The standard of living of each household was calculated based on whether important goods or services could be afforded and on the ability of each household to conduct essential household tasks and manage finances[97]. The measure also accounted for disability benefits by including these in household incomes. SCOPE used UK wide data taken from the Family Resources survey. It is important to note that the extra cost of disability may be different for Scotland compared to the UK has a whole due to the different type of support available.
Despite the available welfare support payments (see chapter on Benefits) provided for disabled people in Scotland it is clear from the evidence presented that disabled people are impacted by poverty[98] and the cost of living crisis[99] coupled with fewer opportunities to access employment[100] to mitigate this (see chapter on Employment).