Poverty has risen among the disabled.

The charity's latest report on poverty and social exclusion says 12 million people in 2005 are poor - two million below the early 1990s peak.

The foundation examined 50 different indicators of poverty and found that while 20 had improved in the past year, only two had got worse.

But the report highlights problems for disabled people, 30% of whom are poor.

The report, Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK 2005, was compiled for the foundation by a think-tank called the New Policy Institute.

Directed policies

It says that poverty among children and pensioners has improved because the government has implemented special policies targeted at them.

But it points out that the 30% poverty rate among disabled adults is double the rate among non-disabled adults and is higher than it was 10 years ago.

"Poverty among disabled people is high and rising, with little by way of government policy, thus far, to help, " said one of the report's authors, Guy Palmer.

"Tackling disabled poverty needs to be made a top priority."

Surprising finding

The rise in disabled poverty was one of the findings that most surprised the authors.

The inescapable conclusion is that the labour market discriminates against disabled people Peter Kenway, report co-author

They had assumed that the problem might at least be flat, given the general improvement in poverty among the wider population.

The report also dispels a myth about disabled people.

It is often thought they suffer from higher unemployment because they have fewer qualifications.

But Mr Palmer said it was now clear that even well-qualified disabled people are less likely to be in work than their able bodied counterparts.

Peter Kenway, a joint author of the report, called for polices to change the attitudes of employers.

"A disabled person is more likely to be either low paid or out of work than a non-disabled person with similar qualifications," he said.

"The inescapable conclusion is that the labour market discriminates against disabled people."

Official data

The report is the eighth annual study for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and draws for its analysis on official data.

The sources of information this year were 54 government surveys on factors such as family resources, the labour force, expenditure and food, crime in Britain and housing in England.

The overall conclusion of the authors is that poverty is carrying on its trend of recent years by improving slowly.

The main reasons are that more people of working age are in work than ever before.

While for pensioners, the pension credit has been raised substantially in recent years, so taking many single pensioners out of poverty.