About this site

London's Poverty Profile is the first independent, comprehensive source of information about poverty and inequality in the capital. It has been created by one of London's largest charitable trusts, Trust for London, and the independent thinktank, New Policy Institute.

London's Poverty Profile was launched in 2009, with a printed report that is available to download here. A special report on the impact of the recession is available to download here.

Why a Poverty Profile for London?

London is by far and away the richest part of Britain. It is the engine of the UK economy, contributing 36% more per head of population than the next most productive region, according to the Office for National Statistics. Yet London also has high poverty levels – how can this possibly be?

In our experience, many commentators are utterly perplexed by this. Britain, they point out, is a comparatively rich country. From this perspective, therefore, Britain itself is a bubble. With its much higher than average income, London is then a bubble within that bubble.

What the perplexed observer fails to take account of, however, is the possibility that their view of London may be a very partial one. For if that view is dominated by images of the City, of the Houses of Parliament, of the Royal Parks, of Knightsbridge, Hampstead and Notting Hill, then what that outsider actually has in mind is not 'London' in its generality but rather a select slice of it.

The aim of this website is to correct such misconceptions, first by placing London within the context of England (chiefly by means of comparisons with the eight other English regions) and second, by looking inside London, at Inner and Outer London, then sub-regions within Inner London and Outer London, and finally at individual London boroughs.

Besides geographical variations, the site also looks closely at variations by ethnicity, age and especially work status. The end product is intended to convey a detailed sense of the poverty landscape in London.

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