United Kingdom
The pension gap between a non-disabled full-time worker and a part-time worker disabled throughout working life
Proportion of disabled people adults who worry about their future financial security
People in the UK are disabled, up from 1 in 5 a decade ago
The number of disabled people increased from 12.9 million (20%) in 2014-15 to 16.7 million (25%) in 2024-25, an increase of 3.8 million people, according to the Department for Work and Pensions. Almost all of this rise has come from increases among children and working-age adults.
The proportion of disabled children increased from 7% to 12% over the past decade - a near-doubling in ten years.
Among working-age adults, the proportion rose from 17% to 23% - an increase of six percentage points.
Disability exists on a wide spectrum, ranging from mild impairments to permanent or temporary conditions that entirely preclude employment, and is frequently invisible, with no external indicators for profoundly debilitating conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome or many mental health conditions. Furthermore, many of these illnesses fluctuate significantly in severity, meaning individuals often navigate periods of relative wellness alongside sudden episodes of acute incapacity.
The point at which disability occurs in a person's life significantly shapes the financial consequences that follow. Those who become disabled in childhood or early adulthood face barriers to educational attainment, career development and savings accumulation that compound over time. Those who become disabled later in working life, having already built earnings history and pension savings, face a different but still serious set of challenges.
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PensionBee's research identifies what it terms a 'quadruple whammy' of compounding financial disadvantage facing disabled people: lower lifetime savings resulting from constrained earnings; the need to work longer to compensate, compounded by an inability to earn more; higher likely outgoings in later life due to care needs; and a greater probability of renting rather than owning in retirement. The psychological burden of this financial outlook creates a fifth, distinct impact.
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Press: [email protected]
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