local child poverty statistics (UK)

The figures from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on local child poverty make for uncomfortable reading for London.

They say in the period 1998/9 to 2004/5:

• In Great Britain, child poverty fell by 16% (from 33% to 27% of children)
• In London, child poverty rose by 4% (from 39% to 41% of children)

Across London they say there are 105 local wards where the percentage of children on benefits is at least twice the national average.

In Lewisham we are talking about two wards that fit that criteria, Evelyn and New Cross, where 47.1 and 42.2 percent of children are being brought up in families on out of work benefits.

If I ever brought into Harold Wilson’s “This Party is a moral crusade or it is nothing” then the crusade I’m interested in is on fulfilling Tony Blair’s pledge to end child poverty in a generation.

As the JRF have already argued the task needs additional resources, and John Hutton acknowledged that Labour has more to do earlier this year, while making this issue his department’s number one priority.

Further reading:

‘Bucking the trend’: What enables those who are disadvantaged in childhood to succeed later in life?

Main findings:

• For boys having a father with little or no interest in their education reduces their chances of bucking the trend by 25%, and the same can be said of girls and their mothers.
• Those born in poverty are more likely to better their position if their parents have some qualifications, read to them as children and take an interest in their schooling.
• Early educational attainment is positively related to avoiding disadvantage in later life. Those who are poor at age 30 are 15% to 20% more likely to have been in the low education group at 16 and have fewer qualifications.
• The stronger performance of those who go on to escape poverty begins early with observable differences in test scores as young as five.
• Around 20% of those who are poor at 16 are still poor at 30 compared with only 7% of those who are not poor at age 16, showing the importance of measures against persistent poverty.