London faces levels of child poverty worse than any other major developed country and the situation is not improving.
There are 630,000 children living in relative poverty in London, living in households with below 60% of median income. That represents 39% of the children in London - 44% of the children in inner London. There has been little change in these figures over the last decade, despite improvements elsewhere in the country.1
Living on less than 60% of the median income means real deprivation for these children:
- A parent has only £37 or less per week to feed, clothe and care for a child, after paying rent and bills, nationally
- In London where overall costs are at least 9% higher, that leaves even less than £37 to buy basic necessities. Housing and childcare costs are 23% higher on average
Life chances start to diverge from a very early age and the gap widens over time. Bright children from the lowest income families who did well in tests aged three had fallen behind by the age of five2 and only 42% of children on free school meals achieve 5 GCSE’s compared with 62% of other children.3
The problems and issues behind poverty (health, education, family, housing) are all joined up in the lives of children and their families - but the support services and funding are not.
This is the insight behind our strategic approach towards tackling child poverty in London.
1. DMAG Update 06-2009, Poverty figures for London: 2007/08, May 2009.
2. Millennium Cohort Study Second Survey: A User’s Guide to initial findings, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, 2007.
3. Key Stage 4 Local Authority tables, Department for Children Schools and Families, 2006.
