Ten Things you Need to Know About Child Poverty in London

October 2016

Prepared for the Mayor’s Fund for London

# 1: Scale of child poverty in LondonA Child is described as living in poverty if they live in a household whose income is less than 60 per cent of

the contemporary median

700,000

37 %

Source: Households Below Average Income 2012/13-14/15

# 2: Some household characteristics associated with higher levels of child poverty

Living in workless

households70%

All figures shown are the proportion of children with those characteristics that are in poverty After Housing Costs across the UK for 2014/15. Source: 2014/15 HBAI

Living in lone parent households

45%

Household with 3 or more children1 in 3

Head of Household is

Black or Asian ethnic groupover 2 in 5 In a family

receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance

85%

Social renters 50%Private renters 45%

“Risk” of poverty for each characteristic

Household where an adult or child has a

disability 1 in 3

# 3: London’s child poverty is concentrated in these areas of multiple deprivation

#4: “Cheek by Jowl” is as true as everWestminster Ward Child Poverty RateKnightsbridge and Belgravia 3.9%Bryanston and Dorset Square 16.9%Abbey Road 17.4%Bayswater 18.2%Marylebone High Street 20.1%St James's 20.0%West End 20.7%Lancaster Gate 21.2%Regent's Park 24.0%Hyde Park 25.4%Tachbrook 28.9%Little Venice 29.8%Warwick 29.1%Vincent Square 31.6%Maida Vale 34.5%Harrow Road 39.7%Queen's Park 42.5%Churchill 45.4%Westbourne 47.1%Church Street 49.4%

London has the highest proportion of any region’s population in the lowest national income decile (15%)

and the second highest proportion in the highest income decile (also 15%)

Source: Children in low income households, 2014, DWP

Source: HBAI, DWP

#5: Child poverty has fallen but now stalled

94/95

-96/97

96/97

-98/99

98/99

-00/01

00/01

-02/03

02/03

-04/05

04/05

-06/07

06/07

-08/09

08/09

-10/11

10/11

-12/13

12/13

- 14/1

5

14/15

-16/17

16/17

-18/19

18/19

-20/21

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

London rela-tive BHCUK relative BHCLondon rela-tive AHC

Source: HBAI, DWP

97/98-99/00

98/99-00/01

99/00-01/02

00/01-02/03

01/02-03/04

02/03-04/05

03/04-05/06

04/05-06/07

05/06-07/08

06/07-08/09

07/08-09/10

08/09-10/11

09/10-11/12

10/11-12/13

11/12 - 13/14

12/13 - 14/15

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Inner Lon-don

Outer Lon-don

# 6: Most children in poverty live in working households

All children living in poverty

Workless Households

Mixed Households(at least one adult in

work)

1996/97

2005/06

2014/15

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

All adults in

work

Source: HBAI, DWP

# 7: The proportion of children in workless households has fallen (but poverty has not)

WestminsterCamdenLambethIslington

Tower HamletsBarking and DagenhamKensington and Chelsea

HackneyBarnet

GreenwichHaringey

SouthwarkNewham

Waltham ForestLewisham

BexleyKingston upon Thames

HounslowEnfield

BrentHillingdon

BromleyHavering

Hammersmith and FulhamEaling

CroydonWandsworth

SuttonRedbridge

HarrowMerton

Richmond upon Thames

0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 35.0 40.0

2015 2010

Source: Annual Population Survey, ONS

#8: This is because of low pay, high costs and job insecurity Earnings have not kept pace with price increases, so

those in lower paid jobs can only do better by increasing their hours

Childcare in London costs at least a third more than average

1/5 jobs in London pays below the London Living Wage (LLW) including 1/2 of part-time jobs

250,000 Londoners work in temporary jobs. At least 1/3 want a permanent job

There are around 70,000 “zero hours contract” jobs in London

49% of disadvantaged pupils in London achieve 5+ A*-C grades at GCSE including English and Maths

compared with 37% of disadvantaged pupils in England as a whole

But 70% of non-disadvantaged pupils in London achieve the same

Overall, London’s children are more likely to gain level 3 qualifications (2+ A levels or equivalent), and to go on to Higher Education

# 9: London’s disadvantaged children get a better education but there is still an achievement gap

#10: Welfare and child poverty looking forward

Universal Credit designed to alleviate child poverty by improving work incentives.

But the combined impact of reforms to the tax and benefit system are set to increase relative child poverty.

Research suggests that these will out-weigh any positives of Universal Credit.

IFS project the net effect is for a further 1.2 million children nationwide to be living in relative poverty by 2020.

In summary, the evidence shows . . .

Child Poverty

Welfare and work

incentivesEmployment

Status

Education Housing Tenure &

Composition

Location

Health and Disability

Access to services eg childcare

Quality of employment

That all of the below influence the likelihood of a child being in poverty

Contact us

Find data and analysis at the London Datastore– https://data.london.gov.uk– Follow us on Twitter @LDN_data– Email us: sedata@london.gov.uk

See the Mayor’s Fund for London– www.mayorsfundforlondon.org.uk– Follow us on Twitter @MayorsFund– Email us: info@mayorsfundforlondon.org.uk