Tackling child poverty in London

In 2006 London’s story is a tale of two cities. One is a rich economic powerhouse that is home to big businesses making billions, the other is a place where more than 600,000 children grow up in poverty.

One is a vibrant and fashionable world capital to which millions of tourists flock each year, the other is a place where parents go without so that they can feed and clothe their children.

It’s shocking to think that in a city as rich and prosperous as ours, poverty can be so prevalent. In Outer London one in three children live below the poverty line while in Inner London this rockets to more than half – an appalling 52 per cent.

Despite the progress that’s been made to reduce child poverty in other parts of the country, it has not fallen enough and here in London it remains stubbornly high.

Today, here in North West London and right across the capital, there are thousands of children who are malnourished, in poor health or living in squalid housing because they are in poverty. Thousands more miss out on things that others take for granted like a warm winter coat, going on school trips or having friends round to play.

Poverty seriously damages children’s life chances and opportunities. While school standards overall are up, the poorest children who are entitled to free school meals are still half as likely to get five good GCSEs as those who are not. All too often today’s poor child becomes tomorrow’s poor parent, so it makes both moral and economic sense to tackle poverty.

As this newspaper reported last month, the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and the Association of London Government, which brings together all the borough councils, have set up a new commission to look at the unique causes and consequences of child poverty in the capital.

Camden is in the top twenty most deprived boroughs in the country, while Brent is not much further behind with five wards amongst the ten per cent most deprived in the country, namely Carlton, Stonebridge, St Raphael’s, Roundwood and Harlesden.

And since the capital has the highest rate of child poverty in the whole of Britain, with seemingly intractable problems, the Commission will have a huge job of work to do.

It will need to look at the damaging effect poverty has on children, some of which have been discussed above, but also the many causes.

Everything from the high cost of housing and childcare to the low wages and low employment rate in London will need to be examined.

Soaring childcare costs in the capital are a particular cause for concern, since they can act as an insurmountable barrier for parents looking to return to work. For lone parents in particular, the lack of affordable childcare means that going back to work is simply not an option.

Latest figures show that the typical weekly cost of a full-time nursery place for a child under two is £197 in Inner London and £174 in Outer London. Various initiatives to make good quality, flexible and affordable childcare available in the capital are being tested out and the Commission will need to look at which policy options could make a real difference for local parents.

Tax credits have been heralded as one of the Government’s most important weapons in the fight against child poverty, but in the capital only two in three eligible families are claiming them. This very low-take up rate, far lower than other parts of the country, is deeply worrying because it means that as many as 190,000 families are missing out on what is rightfully theirs.

London also has a high proportion of the groups of children who are at the very greatest risk of poverty, namely black and minority ethnic children, children of lone parents and children in large families.

If the Government is to fulfil its ambitious and laudable target to eradicate child poverty then it must ensure that these children are not left behind. A good start would be in the Budget later this month and next year’s spending review when Ministers must reaffirm their commitment to end child poverty by 2020 and outline what more they will do to meet their pledge.

I’m under no illusions that these problems can be solved easily or quickly, but I’m pleased that here in London the Mayor and local councils are as determined as I am to tackle head on the many causes and consequences of child poverty in our capital.

For the sake of the thousands of children across North West London and the millions across the country who still grow up on the breadline, we have to do much, much more. In a city as rich yet unequal as ours, it would be a scandal not to.

Kate Green is Chief Executive of the Child Poverty Action Group and a member of the London Child Poverty Commission.

Published in North West London Newspapers, March 2006.