Sight loss and minimum living standards: the additional costs of living for people of working age who are severely sight impaired and for people of pension age with acquired sight impairment

This confirms that those with visual impairment need to spend substantially more than sighted people to achieve a minimum acceptable standard of living. It shows moreover that these additional costs vary considerably for people with different degrees of sight loss and of different ages.

This research by CRSP uses the Minimum Income Standards (MIS) method to calculate the additional costs of living for different groups of people with vision impairment and shows how they increase with severity of impairment and age. The research, funded by Thomas Pocklington Trust, is based on deliberation among groups of people with sight loss about additions that need to be made to the standard MIS household budget because of their vision impairment. The report outlines how much extra they need to reach a minimum acceptable standard of living. Working age people who are severely sight impaired face 60% higher costs, and the costs for someone of pension age who is sight impaired can be 41% more than people of the same age who are not vision impaired, both higher than the 25% additional cost identified in a previous study looking at the additional costs of someone of working age who is sight impaired. The research also highlights the broad range of additional costs that people who are vision impaired face and the similarities and differences in needs and costs when severity of impairment and age are taken into account.