A report by the Food Foundation shows that the most seriously disabled people are experiencing 5 times the level of food insecurity as the wider population.
The report states that 25% of disabled people, who are limited a lot by their impairments, experience food insecurity, and 11% of disabled people who are limited a little. This contrasts with 5% of the non disabled population experiencing food insecurity.
These figures confirm that millions of disabled people are living in extreme poverty. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation says that 7 million of the 14 million people in poverty, are either a disabled person or have a disabled person in their household. The Trussell Trust says that 75% of food bank users are disabled people or have a disabled person in the household.
Fazilet Hadi, DR UK Head of Policy said “Experiencing food insecurity is a symptom of poverty, benefit levels are far too low and are not enabling disabled people to live safely or with dignity. Despite this, the Chancellor failed to extend the £20 uplift per week to those on legacy benefits. There needs to be a fundamental review of the level of benefits, accepting that many disabled people will rely on the safety net for longer, due to ill health or impairment and or discrimination in securing employment.”