Following the Emergency Budget of June 2010, Demos and the disability charity Scope sought to explore how cuts to public spending would affect disabled Britain. We calculated how the welfare reforms announced in the Emergency Budget and in the run up to the Spending Review would affect five typical disabled families. Our research showed that, far from being protected from the worst of the cuts, disabled families across the country faced significant reductions in their household income. Losses of two to three thousand pounds over the course of the next parliament were typical and overall, we estimated that disabled people would lose £9 billion in welfare support in the next five years.

The numbers paint a bleak picture. But what is life like for Britain’s 10m disabled households and how is it changing as the cuts set in?

The Disability in Austerity Study is a longitudinal project, following five disabled families through the course of this parliament and tracking the impact of fiscal tightening on their lives.

 The families

Taking part in the study are:

A young disabled child (A) cared for by her mother and father

A is a four year-old girl, who lives in Lincolnshire. She is quadriplegic, has epilepsy and cerebral palsy. She lives with her parents and five other siblings - the youngest of whom is two. She and the other children are looked after by their mother, who cares for them full-time; as she has got older, her father has had to take more unpaid leave from work to help with caring responsibilities. 

 A disabled man (P) and his wife who cares for him and also has moderate disabilities

P is 50 and suffered a stroke in March 2006. He now has left-handed weakness, uses crutches often, had two heart defects and related surgery and his left leg often locks.  P also has memory loss. He was self-employed for 9 years but hasn’t been able to work since the stroke. He hopes to improve his employment prospects by doing a part-time distance learning course in psychology. P lives with his wife who is also his carer. His grown-up step-children live away from home. P’s wife was made redundant 2 years ago

 A single disabled man (E)

E is 48, separated, and lives alone in Scotland since separating from his wife. He has lifelong epilepsy which deteriorated in 2008. Before that we worked full time in a home and DIY shop. E has two children in their twenties.

 A single disabled woman (C)

C is 28 and is single. She lives in the south of England, renting her own place from a housing association. She has cerebral palsy and been a wheelchair user all her life.

 A middle-aged, disabled man (S) who is a social care service user

S is 48 and has MS (secondary progressive).  His MS has worsened over the last 5 years so he has been pensioned off (a third of his income) from work since 2005. S is married and his wife is a full time nurse. They have three adult boys, two at university and one who lives at home.

Demos has now published the final instalment of the study, Destination Unknown: Summer 2012. The report found that despite the drop in income and worsening conditions for each of our five families over the preceding two years, the deepest cuts were yet to take effect.

For more information about the Disability in Austerity study contact Claudia Wood.