Department for Work and Pensions
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Publication of two DWP research reports:

Publication of two DWP research reports:

DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS News Release (DRC-048) issued by The Government News Network on 16 October 2007

prepared by the
DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS
FAMILY POVERTY AND WORK DIVISION

* Disability and Caring among Families with Children: Family employment and poverty characteristics

* Health, disability, caring and employment

Two DWP research reports - Health, disability, caring and employment AND Disability and Caring among Families with Children are published today.

They are based on analysis of the Department's Families and Children Study (and other surveys) and add to our knowledge about how disability in the family interacts with income, employment and caring behaviour.

A selection of the main findings include:

* Overall, disabled people are more likely to live alone and less likely to be a parent of dependent1 children.
* Disabled people also tend to be older as a group then non-disabled people.
* Children are less likely to be reported as disabled if they are living with a married couple, compared to those living with cohabiting couples or lone parents.
* There is no marked difference between the proportion of women and men with responsibility for caring. The incidence of caring rises with age until retirement then appears to drop.
* The presence of a disabled child in a household was related to lower employment rates for both lone and coupled mothers. It was particularly related to participation in full-time work.
* The proportion of workless couples is almost three times that of couples who do not have a disabled child (13 per cent compared to five per cent).
* The effect of being a carer appears to depress incomes more than disability.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1 These reports will be in the DWP Research Series Report (nos. 460 and 461); see: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rrs-index.asp

2 The authors were from the University of Bristol and the University of Birmingham

3 The Families and Children Study is a refreshed panel study of approximately 7000 families in Britain, investigating the circumstances of all families with dependent children. It covers a range of topics including: health; disability and caring; education; income; childcare; child maintenance; housing; transport; and labour market activity.

4 The analysis also uses (i) The British Household Panel Survey - a survey based at Essex University that has followed a group of 5500 households each year since 1991; (ii) Millennium Cohort Study - follows families with children born in 2000-01 at regular intervals.

1 The definition of dependent child is a child aged under 16 years, or aged 16-19 in full time education.

DWP Website http://www.dwp.gov.uk

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