Estimating the Additional Income Needed to Address Higher Deprivation Levels of Children in Households with Disabled People

Children living in households with disabled people have a rate of material hardship three times that of children living in households with no disabled people. The rate of severe material hardship is almost four times higher. This article aims to improve the evidence base to inform policy responses to these inequities. It uses pooled Household Economic Survey data to estimate how much additional income is needed to reduce levels of deprivation to match those of households with children with no disabled people. Examples of the estimated additional income needed range from $8,400 to $24,000 per annum on an equivalised income basis and vary depending on where the household’s income sits in the income distribution. The additional income needed is higher when there are two or more disabled people in the household than when there is one disabled person.