Research on Poverty and the Cost of Disability

The cost of disability is the extra spending needs that people with a disability face in their day-to-day lives that others in society do not face.

These extra costs are a direct result of the person’s disability and would not arise otherwise.

Cost of Disability

In 2021 the Minister for Social Protection published the Cost of Disability Research Report which was written by Indecon International Research Economists.

The research found that there is no one cost of disability, but that rather a spectrum of costs exists that varies across a number of dimensions, including the age of the individual, the severity of disability, as well as the nature of the disability and household type.

The findings have implications for many areas of public policy including the delivery of care services, health, housing, education, transport, and income supports. Therefore, it is intended that a whole-of-Government approach be taken to address the cost of disability.

One area examined by the Department of Social Protection was in relation to reform of disability payments or the Green Paper. This paper was informed by the Cost of Disability research. The proposals contained in the Green Paper were withdrawn following negative feedback.

You can read the NDA submission on the Green paper at the link below.

NDA submission on Green Paper on Welfare Reform in Ireland

Long term disability payments

The NDA conducted a literature review of long-term disability payments across selected jurisdictions. This review helped inform an NDA submission on the review of long-term disability payments (the Green Paper) by examining various systems of disability payments internationally and in Ireland. While there is a noteworthy literature base on sickness and disability related issues, literature on disability benefits is comparatively limited, due to a lack of suitable data combining information on the labour market with comprehensive measures of health and disability.

The research literature jurisdictions most often cited for comparative purposes are Australia, Finland, France, Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. However, there are demonstrably different systems within these studies, some of these jurisdictions have different disability benefit systems for different groups, whereas others have the same system for the entire population of working age.

Identification of Skills Gaps Among Persons with Disabilities and their Employment Prospects

As part of the 2020-2022 partnership programme between the NDA and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), the ESRI have developed a research report called Identification of Skills Gaps Among Persons with Disabilities and their Employment Prospects (available on ESRI website).

The report examines data on the skills and employment gaps of persons with disabilities in comparison to persons without disabilities both in Ireland and Europe. This report shows how the situation has changed over time.

The report also examines poverty and found that people with disabilities are much more likely to experience poverty and social exclusion than people without disabilities. While being employed helps to considerably reduce the risk of poverty for all people, working people with disabilities are still experiencing higher poverty risks than working people without disabilities. Ireland has one of the lowest at risk of poverty rates for employed people without disabilities, but, on average, it is much higher for people with disabilities.