This report sets out the nature of poverty in the UK, and evaluates changes under the last Conservative-led Government. It also sets out the scale of action necessary for the current Government to deliver the change it has promised.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation: UK Poverty 2026: The Essential Guide to Understanding “Deep” Poverty in the UK! (27.1.2026)

Disabled people face a higher risk of poverty. This is driven partly by the additional costs associated with disability and ill-health, and partly by the barriers to work that disabled people face. However, the proportion of disabled working-age adults in work increased from 42% in 2010/11 to 53% in 2023/24, while poverty rates remained steady over that period. In the latest data, there were 17 million disabled people in the UK — that is, 1 in 4 people (24%) — and almost 4 in 10 families contained at least 1 person who was disabled. The poverty rate for disabled people was 28%, 8 percentage points higher than the rate for people who were not disabled. Half of all people who were disabled and living in poverty in the latest data had a long-term, limiting mental condition — around 2.4 million people. The poverty rate for this group was 34%, compared with 28% for people with a physical disability.