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Families with a disabled child are more likely to live in poverty than their non-disabled counterparts, says a study published today.

The Institute for Public Policy Research report found 29 per cent of people with disabled children lived in poverty in 2002/3 compared with 21 per cent of all households.

The study suggests that if the number of disabled children continues to increase at the same level it did between 1975 and 2002, it will rise from 770,000 in 2002 to 1.25m by 2029.

And it forecasts that the proportion of people in their 50s with a disability or self-reported long-term health problem will rise from 43 per cent in 2004 to 58 per cent in 2020.