News for Poverty report

Mayoral manifesto calls for action on child poverty

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:11:19 +0000

A coalition of charities are calling for action from the next Mayor to make London more family friendly and to tackle child poverty.

The manifesto has 15 key challenges for candidates and has been endorsed by Trust for London, 4in10, Children England, Child Poverty Action Group, Citizens UK, Daycare Trust, Gingerbread, LVSC, Toynbee Hall, Save the Children, Shelter, Women Like Us and Zaccheus 2000.

Opinion polling by YouGov of 1,219 Londoners found a clear majority of families were more likely to vote for a candidate who pledged more affordable housing (63%), made employers pay the London Living Wage (61%), encouraged employers to offer flexible working hours (60%), delivered more affordable and flexible childcare (59%), or did more to promote information about the help available with living costs (54%). Londoners across the board were particularly supportive of policies on affordable housing (67% more likely to support a candidate pledging action in this area), and the living wage (62%).

The poll also revealed:

Over 140,000 families (14%) don't yet know who they will vote for. More than 1 in 4 (26%) families with dependent children are unsure which candidate's policies were the most family friendly, indicating candidates must do more to engage with this crucial issue.

As well as being the lead choice of families vote (48% Livingstone to 35% Johnson), Ken Livingstone is also the most trusted candidate on tackling child poverty with 37% backing him to do the best job compared to 13% backing Boris Johnson.

Alison Garnham a spokesperson for the coalition said:

"With over 140,000 families undecided, and only 1 in 4 clear on which candidate offers the best deal, the family vote is set to be a key battleground in deciding who will be London's next Mayor.

"It is now vital that candidates listen to their concerns and commit to make London more family friendly by making work more flexible, childcare and housing more affordable and delivering better information for parents.

"Committing to these vital issues might not only be key to winning the upcoming election, but is also a first step towards tackling London's shockingly high levels of child poverty."

Download Manifesto

Notes

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1,219 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 9th - 12th March 2012. The survey was carried out online. 320 of those polled had children in the household, and are referred to here as 'families' compared to 861 who did not. For a full copy of the polling data please contact Kate Bell, Child Poverty Action Group - 020 7812 5210 or kbell@cpag.org.uk

The ONS estimate there are 1.02 million families with dependent children in the capital, based on data from the Labour Force Survey. 14 per cent of those polled with children in the household do not yet know who to vote for.

Is London more unequal but less segregated?

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:48:29 +0000

The Centre for Analysis for Social Exclusion (CASE) at LSE has been looking at what happened to poor neighbourhoods under New Labour in the 2000s as part of a major research project for the Trust for London. It found that in London poverty was already becoming more suburban and more diffuse even as income inequality in the city rose.

Poverty rates fell fastest in central London, and, in detail, fell the most in those neighbourhoods which were the most deprived in 2001. At the same time, poverty rates rose in much of Outer London, especially in the eastern suburbs. By several measures of difference or polarisation, the income-poor became less segregated; the poorest neighbourhoods became steadily less extreme relative to the city average.

In part these changes reflect large falls in the availability of social housing, particularly in Inner London. But, in addition, dwelling and population density increased substantially in inner London over the period, and did so most in the poorest neighbourhoods. Importantly, the number of people of poverty there fell only slightly, but the total number of working-age adults rose greatly - by about 20% in the poorest inner-city areas. So the poverty rate in these areas could fall even though there were not fewer poor people.

Alex Fenton, Research Fellow at CASE, has written a blog about their emerging findings. Read more, and see the graphs from the Politics & Policy blog

Find out more about the Social Policy in a Cold Climate research programme.

Find out more about the spread of poverty across London on this site.

Poverty moving from inner to outer London

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:09:50 +0000

Outer London has seen rising levels of poverty while the number of poorer areas in central London is reducing, according to a new analysis of the official Indices of Multiple Deprivation.

The results for neighbourhoods, in a new report by the University of Sheffield, parallels findings about household poverty in London, including in the London's Poverty Profile.

The Indices of Multiple Deprivation measures relative poverty of neighbourhoods across England, between 2004 and 2010. The data measures poverty in tiny "lower super output areas", each with a population of around 1,500 people. An area that has slipped down the index and become more deprived may still not be poor - it has just become more deprived compared with other neighbourhoods.

The data shows that 430 neighbourhoods in London have become significantly more deprived than their neighbours since 2004, and 400 of those are in the outer boroughs.

In contrast, only 374 neighbourhoods across London have become significantly less deprived, and they are predominantly in the west and central parts of the city. However, the poorest neighbourhoods remain in the east.

Read more about this research in The Guardian.

Find out more about poverty in London.

Childcare costs rising up to 20 times faster than wages

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:55:28 +0000

A new survey from the Daycare Trust found that the average cost of nursery care in Britain for children under two rose by nearly 6% last year. In contrast, average wages rose by just 0.3%.

The Daycare Trust's annual survey of childcare prices also show the costs of child minders and of nurseries for children over two years old increased by nearly 4%.

The report also includes analysis of government figures which shows that, following recent eligibility changes, 44,000 fewer families received childcare tax credits last year - while those who still get it receive an average of £500 a year less.

Nurseries in London and south-east England were most expensive, with a top price of £300 a week for a part-time place.

Ill health and poverty persist for 114 years

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:48:53 +0000

New research from Queen Mary, University of London, has found the persistence of poor health in pockets of deprivation that were mapped by Charles Booth in 1898-9.

The researchers mapped people at risk of Type 2 diabetes, which is strongly associated with poverty. They were 'startled' to see how similar their modern-day map of Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham was to Charles Booth's 19th century maps of deprivation.

St Pancras cleaners strike over poor pay

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:27:05 +0000

Cleaners have picketed London St Pancras International station for 48 hours in protest at "poverty pay", The Guardian reports.

The employees who work for Initial, part of the Rentokil Initial group, have taken strike action after receiving no pay rise for four years, no sick pay and no pension scheme. They currently earn just £6.50 an hour, significantly below the London Living Wage, which is currently set by the Greater London Authority at £8.30 per hour.

JSA claims have grown fastest in London

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:54:11 +0000

The latest official figures for Job Seeker's Allowance (JSA) claimants shows the numbers increasing faster in London than in any other region, according to analysis by The Guardian.

Although the proportion of people claiming JSA in London is lower than in parts of Northern England, the year-on-year increase is the highest at 8.8%. London now has a total of 235,177 JSA claimants, with the number of unemployed even higher at around 425,000.

Supermarket staff 'live in poverty'

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:17:41 +0000

The Fair Pay Network has criticised the four largest supermarket chains - Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda and Morrisons - for paying their front-line staff less than the living wage.

In a report just published, the Network claims that on average workers earn £6.83 per hour. The GLA has calculated that earning below £7.25 in London means that you are likely to be below the poverty line, even with benefits and tax credits.

The supermarkets have defended their records, with some criticising the small sample (100) of workers who were surveyed for the research.

The London Living Wage campaign is currently focusing on retail companies, most of whom pay below the rate, which is currently set by the GLA at £8.30 per hour.

Find out more about low pay in London.

Find out more about the London Living Wage campaign.

Government and Opposition promise limits on top pay

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:38:27 +0000

The Prime Minister has spoken out against excessive salaries, especially for 'failure'. Research from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) suggests chief executives in 87 of the FTSE 100 companies took home an average of £5.1m in basic pay, bonuses, share incentives and pension contributions in 2010-11.

To deal with this problem, the Government is apparently considering a number of options and the Prime Minister has promised shareholders a binding vote on executive pay.

Opposition Leader, Ed Milliband, promised that a future Labour Government would implement in full a blueprint published by the independent High Pay Commission in November. Its proposals include putting employees on remuneration committees; publishing the top 10 executive pay packages outside the boardroom; forcing companies to publish a pay ratio between the highest-paid executive and the median; forcing companies to reveal the total pay earned by executives; and setting up a permanent body to monitor high pay.

Find out more about pay inequality in London.

Find out more about wealth inequality in London.

Tower Hamlets 'worst area for child poverty in UK'

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:17:03 +0000

The End Child Poverty campaign has published a map of child poverty in the UK, which pinpoints the London Borough of Tower Hamlets as the area with the highest rate. More than half of children in the borough (52%) are living in households with an income below the poverty line.

London boroughs Islington, Hackney, Westminster and Camden all feature in the top 10 list of areas worst affected.

End Child Poverty has also published poverty rates by parliamentary constituency, with Bethnal Green and Bow having the highest poverty rate in the UK.

Find out more about child poverty in London.

Find out more from the End Child Poverty campaign

"800,000 houses unaffordable under housing benefit changes"

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:08:11 +0000

Research carried out by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) for the Guardian newspaper has analysed the impact of changes to the Local Housing Allowance - the amount of housing benefit payable to low income households renting privately.

CIH concluded that 720,000 homes will become unaffordable to those on low incomes in England, 60,000 in Scotland, and 30,000 in Wales. London and the south east will be hit hardest, where a quarter of a million homes will become unaffordable.

The affordability changes are partly the result of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) caps that come into force this week. These restrict the maximum payment to between £250 and £400 a week depending on the number of bedrooms. In addition, the research included the projected impact of setting LHA rates according to the 30th percentile of local rents rather than the median, which will be introduced from April.

Read more from Chartered Institute of Housing.

Find out more about the changes to Housing Benefit.

See our analysis of the potential impact on households in London.

London's new Housing Strategy out for consultation

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:15:09 +0000

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, this week put out a draft new Housing Strategy for public consultation. Responses are sought by 6 March 2012.

The revised Housing Strategy will replace the Mayor's first strategy published in February 2010, and responds to changes in funding allocation and proposed changes to powers over housing in the Localism Bill.

This week also saw Labour's Mayoral candidate, Ken Livingstone, announce plans for a London Living Rent and a public lettings agency, and Shelter warn that London families face the highest risk of eviction.

Read more about Ken Livingstone's announcement from The Guardian.

Is fuel poverty worse in London?

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:31:12 +0000

A new paper from the Greater London Authority suggests that fuel poverty may be higher in London than the national measure suggests.

GLA Economics argues that the official Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) measure for fuel poverty underestimates the incidence of fuel poverty in the capital due to the inclusion of housing-related benefits as income, which in London reflect higher housing costs rather than higher disposable income.

Using instead a 'basic income' component, the GLA suggests that the incidence of fuel poverty in London is 18.6 per cent, compared to 13.3 per cent on the DECC measure. Furthermore, the actual numbers of households involved are very substantial, although the 12.9 per cent share of national households in fuel poverty is slightly less than London's share of English households. When severe fuel poverty is examined, there are more than 126,400 households in London falling within the definition.

Moreover, in the case of both fuel poverty and severe fuel poverty, there are significant numbers in the capital just beneath the threshold level.

Read the full paper from GLA Economics.

Find out more about the impact of housing costs in measuring poverty in London.

British public attitudes to poverty harden

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:24:19 +0000

The National Centre for Social Research's 28th annual British Social Attitudes report found increasing numbers blaming poverty on "laziness" - more than 1 in 4 of respondents, compared with 15% in the mid 1990s.

A majority (54%) now believe that social security benefits are too high.

Moreover, the proportion in England willing to pay higher taxes to support the National Health Service, schools or the environment, has halved to just 30%.

Nevertheless, 75% of those questioned believed the gap between rich and poor was too large.

Editor of the report, Alison Park, told the BBC that the findings were not typical of times of austerity.

She said: "In previous recessions, we have found that people's sympathy for unemployment benefit recipients tends to go up - but we haven't really seen that yet."

Huge fall in building of new affordable homes

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:10:17 +0000

There has been a 99% reduction in the number of affordable homes in England funded by the the Homes and Communities Agency during the last few months as a result of the cuts announced in the government's spending review in 2010.

In London, the number of new affordable homes since April 2011 was 56, compared with thousands in the previous year.

These figures were released the day after the Government published its housing strategy.

Find out more about housing and homelessness in London.