Is it really true that 37% of children in the world's greatest city live in poverty?

1. Ten Things you Need to Know
About Child Poverty in London
October 2016
Prepared for the Mayor’s Fund for London

2. # 1: Scale of child poverty in London
A 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

3. # 2: Some household characteristics associated
with higher levels of child poverty
Living in workless
households
70%
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 children
1 in 3
Head of Household
is Black or Asian
ethnic group
over 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

4. # 3: London’s child poverty is concentrated in these
areas of multiple deprivation

5. #4: “Cheek by Jowl” is as true as ever
Westminster Ward Child Poverty Rate
Knightsbridge 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

6. #5: Child poverty has fallen but now stalled
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
London relative BHC
UK relative BHC
London relative AHC
UK relative AHC
Source: HBAI, DWP
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Inner London
Outer London

7. # 6: Most children in poverty live in working households
All children living in poverty
Workless
Households
Mixed Households
(at least one adult in work)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
1996/97
2005/06
2014/15
All adults
in work
Source: HBAI, DWP

8. # 7: The proportion of children in workless
households has fallen (but poverty has not)
0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 35.0 40.0
Westminster
Camden
Lambeth
Islington
Tower Hamlets
Barking and Dagenham
Kensington and Chelsea
Hackney
Barnet
Greenwich
Haringey
Southwark
Newham
Waltham Forest
Lewisham
Bexley
Kingston upon Thames
Hounslow
Enfield
Brent
Hillingdon
Bromley
Havering
Hammersmith and Fulham
Ealing
Croydon
Wandsworth
Sutton
Redbridge
Harrow
Merton
Richmond upon Thames
2015 2010
Source: Annual Population Survey, ONS

9. #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

10. § 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

11. #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.

12. In summary, the evidence shows . . .
Child Poverty
Welfare and
work incentives
Employment
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

13. 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