Child poverty by borough

What does this map show?

The map shows the proportion of children living in poverty at the borough level. It uses a different measure of poverty than used elsewhere on this website. The measure, devised by HMRC, is based on tax credit and out-of-work benefit data. All children living in households receiving out-of-work benefits are considered to be in poverty in this measure. Additionally, those in households receiving tax credits whose income is still below 60% of the Before Housing Costs (BHC) median are included.

Using the HMRC measure produces an estimate of 530,000 children living in poverty in London, substantially higher than the Before Housing Cost (BHC) estimate of 300,000, but lower than the After Housing Costs (AHC) estimate of 590,000. London has a higher proportion of children in both the elements of the measure compared to other regions, i.e. higher proportion of children living in households receiving out-of-work benefits and those in households receiving tax credits below the poverty threshold.

On this measure, over half of children (53%) in Tower Hamlets were in poverty. This is almost five times as high as the rate in Richmond, the borough with the lowest rate.

Of the ten boroughs with the highest level of child poverty, seven are in the Inner East & South, two are in the Inner West and one is in Outer East and North East. Comparing the rates to the rest of the country, Tower Hamlets, Islington and Hackney have the highest child poverty rates in the country.

Indicator last updated: 11 July 2012