The Purple Pound refers to the spending power of disabled households. A disabled household is a household in which at least one of the members has a disability. Organisations are missing out on the business of disabled consumers due to poor accessibility (both physical and digital) and not being disability confident in their customer services approach.

Statistics from Purple Org

1 in 5 – More than 1 in 5 potential UK consumers have a disability.

£2 billion – Businesses lose approximately £2 billion a month by ignoring the needs of disabled people.

73% – 73% of potential disabled customers experience barriers on more than a quarter of websites they visited.

£16 billion – Taking averages per head, the online spending power of disabled people is estimated at over £16 billion.

£17.1 billion – Estimates show that the 4.3 million disabled online shoppers, who click away from inaccessible websites, have a combined spending power of £11.75 billion in the UK.

14.1 million – The number of disabled people is increasing: From 11.9 million (2014) to 13.3 million (2020).

75% – 75% of disabled people and their families have walked away from a UK business because of poor accessibility or customer service.

1 in 5 – Nearly 1 in 5  working adults have a disability.

£274 billion – The spending power of disabled people and their household continues to increase and is currently (2020) estimated to be worth £274 billion per year to UK business.

£274 million in Guernsey 

Research has shown how various sectors lose money each month by not being accessible. A breakdown can be found below:

High Street Shops – £267 million

Restaurants/Pubs/Clubs – £163 million

Supermarkets – £501 million

Energy Companies – £44 million

Phone/Internet Providers – £49 million

Transport Providers – £42 million

Banks or Building Societies – £935 million