Poverty Indicators by Health Status - Survey on Income and Living Conditions SILC 2023

Arrears rates higher in households with activity limited household members

In the annual Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), questions related to the financial burden of housing costs, the level of difficulty in making ends meet, and arrears on mortgage, rental and other bill payments are asked at the household level. In March 2024, the CSO published SILC Enforced Deprivation 2023 that analysed these variables by demographic and other characteristics.

Questions related to activity limitations (the presence of long-standing activity limitation due to health problems measured via the Global Activity Limitation Indicator (GALI) which are asked at the individual level of survey respondents aged 16 years and older. The Editor’s Note in the Key Findings section of this report describes the questions used to derive the GALI status of survey respondents aged 16 years and older.

In this chapter, factors such as the level of difficulty in making ends meet, the financial burden of housing costs, and arrears on mortgage, rental and utility bill payments are cross-checked against the presence of a person in the SILC household with a long-standing activity limitation. The disability status of the household is attributed according to the person aged 16 years and older with the most severe level of activity limitations.

Two in ten households with a severely limited member had great difficulty in making ends meet

Households were asked to rate their level of difficulty in making ends meet, with the answer options being: ‘with great difficulty’; ‘with difficulty’; ‘with some difficulty’; ‘fairly easily’; ‘easily’; ‘very easily’.

In 2023, 47.8% of households said they had at least some difficulty in making ends meet with 6.4% of households reporting that they make ends meet with great difficulty. Analysing the results against the presence of a household member (aged 16 years and older)^[1] with a long-standing activity limitation due to health problems shows that about six in ten (63.6%) households with a severely limited member had at least some difficulty in making ends meet with 19.9% reporting with great difficulty. Of households without an activity limited member, 43.7% had at least some difficulty in making ends meet and 3.7% reported that they make ends meet with great difficulty. (See Figure 4.1 and Table SIH05).

^[1] The disability status of the household is attributed according to the person aged 16 years and older with the most severe level of activity limitations.

Households with a severely limited household member were three times more likely to be in arrears on utility bills when compared with households where nobody was limited

Households were asked if they had arrears (failed to make a payment in time due to financial difficulties) during the 12-month period prior to their date of interview. These questions related to arrears on mortgage or rental payments; utility bills; hire purchase instalments, or other loan payments. The three answer options for these questions were:

1. Yes, once
2. Yes, twice or more
3. No

Analysis of households owned with a mortgage or rented, where at least one household member was severely limited shows that in the 12-month period prior to their date of interview, 12.0% of these households failed at least once to make their mortgage/rent payment on time. The comparable rates for households without limited members were 5.6% (See Figure 4.2 and Table SIH06).

In SILC 2023, of the 99.3% of households that pay utility bills, 7.3% had arrears on utility bills at some time during the 12-month period prior to their date of interview, with 5.4% failing to make a utility bill payment by due date on two or more occasions (See SILC Enforced Deprivation 2023).

Analysis of utility bill arrears by the GALI status of households shows that 15.3% of households with a severely limited member had arrears (due to financial difficulties) on utility bills sometime in the 12-month period before they were interviewed. The comparable rate for households without limited members was 4.8%. In the 12-month period before they were interviewed, 4.4% of households with a severely limited member fell into arrears on utility bill payments on one occasion, with a further 10.9% failing to make a utility bill payment by due date on two or more occasions (See Figure 4.3 and Table SIH06).

In 2023, the percentage of households with a severely limited household member that had arrears on utility bills at some time during the 12-month period prior to their interview date was three percentage points lower than the comparable rate for 2022 (15.3% and 18.5% respectively). In 2023, 10.9% of households with a severely limited member failed to make a utility bill payment by due date on two or more occasions, down from 13.8% in 2022 (See Figure 4.4 and Table SIH06).

Four in ten households with a severely limited household member reported that housing costs were a heavy burden

Households were asked the extent to which housing costs (rent, mortgage, utility costs, home insurance, and regular maintenance and repair costs) are a financial burden to the household. The answer categories were ‘a heavy burden’; ‘somewhat a burden; ’not a burden at all”. In 2023, more than three in ten (30.6%) of the households whose members were all over 16 years of age said housing costs were a heavy burden. Of households with a severely limited member, just over two-fifths (40.9%) reported that housing costs were a heavy burden. This was more than ten percentage points higher than the rate for households where all household members were not limited (27.1%) (See Figure 4.5 and Table SIH07).

Overall, there was a very slight decrease in the percentage of households that reported housing costs as a heavy burden in 2023 when compared with 2022 (30.6% and 30.9% respectively).

In 2023, 40.9% of households with a severely limited member reported housing costs as a heavy burden, almost ten percentage points lower than the 2022 rate (49.7%) (See Figure 4.6 and Table SIH07).