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Woman with children
Invisible Islington: A report by the Cripplegate Foundation (2008)
Campaigns
Newham Campaign
View the Newham campaign film "Change for Newham Children" here:
Following months of consultation with our local supporters, in October 2009 we launched the 4in10 Newham campaign with three policy priorities. We are campaigning for:
School clothing grants for children in workless households
Fairer funding for Newham's schools
Better standards of temporary accommodation for Newham families
Newham is a vibrant borough with much to recommend it. The borough is home to many young residents (with 40% under 25) and to incredible ethnic diversity, with over 150 languages spoken locally.
Newham has much to be proud of and is achieving within the top 50% of all London boroughs on issues such as educational attainment at 16 and pay inequalities(1) . Although it has a history of poverty, the wealth of Newham’s residents who stay in the borough has been slowly incrementally increasing (2).
But despite these strengths:
• The borough is the 6th most deprived in the UK.
• 69% of Newham’s children live in struggling, low income families where parents are receiving key in or out of work benefits, with 55.7% living below the poverty line(3). At 50,690 this means Newham has a larger number of children growing up in struggling families than any other London borough.
• As evidenced by London’s Poverty Profile the borough sits within the four worst of all London boroughs on social indicators such as: Working age benefit recipiency; children in families in receipt of key out-of-work benefits; low pay by residency; infant mortality; premature death (under 65); working-age people with a limiting long standing illness and newly homeless households (4).
• Newham has more people on waiting lists for social housing and more households in temporary accommodation than any other London borough (5).
• Newham has a high rate of population churn, and tends to export relative wealth and import relative poverty (5).
Newham council is aware of the extent of child poverty in the borough, and is taking many steps already towards reducing this. These include a comprehensive child poverty strategy, the Mayor’s innovative Workplace pilot providing back-to-work support, and a recent pilot to deliver free school meals to all children to increase take-up. But we believe more can and must be done.
The Campaign
Around 70 Newham third sector organisations are currently part of the Newham campaign network, with numbers constantly rising. Our Newham campaign is a coalition of local third sector organisations coordinated by 4in10, working to raise awareness about the extent, causes and consequences of child poverty in the borough and to propose solutions. Our three policy priorities are:
Kit for Kids
No child should have to go without a warm winter coat or a pair of winter shoes. Yet the costs of school clothing cut deep into the budgets of Newham families, leaving many kids to go without. We are asking for the council to give more support for families struggling with the costs of school by providing a school clothing grant of £50 to each child in a workless family in the borough.
A Fair Deal for Newham Children
Every child should get an equal start in life, wherever they grow up. Yet Newham schools are funded over £1,000 less per child than schools in neighbouring boroughs Hackney and Tower Hamlets, even though all three boroughs have similar costs and levels of deprivation. Newham children already achieve in the top 50% of all London's pupils. With the funding its schools deserve, the boroughs children would be able to acheive even more.
Better Homes for Newham Families
Every child in Newham deserves a comfortable home in a good state of repair, but we know many of the 6,600 children in temporary accommodation are growing up in bad housing. This is why we are asking the private agencies who manage Newham’s temporary accommodation to prove they already offer a great service or to show they are changing their ways, by signing up to our decent homes charter.
Our Newham Supporters
Aston Mansfield
ATD Fourth World
Black Chilli
Building Bridges – Family Action
CCYDT (Climate Change Youth Development Trust)
Community Links
Community Food Enterprise (CFE)
Conflict and Change
Custom House & Canning Town Community Renewal Project (CH&CTCRP)
East London Business Alliance
East Potential
ELBWO
Girassol
Home From Home Housing
Home-Start Newham
Islamic Circles Supplementary School
K E Foundation
London Tamil Sangam
New Choices for Youth (NCY Trust)
Newham African Caribbean & Asian Advocacy Project (NACAAP)
Newham Asian Women’s Project (NAWP)
Newham Child and Family Consultation Services
Newham Community Childcare
Newham Community Renewal Programme
Newham Monitoring Project
Newham NUT
Newham Voluntary Sector Consortium (NVSC)
Oneworld African Foundation
PRESET
Quaker Social Action
Racial Equality in Newham (REIN)
Real Life Parenting
Roma Support Group
Save the Children
School- Home- Support Newham
Shelter - Keys to the Future
Shpresa
St John’s Community Centre
Stratford Advice Arcade
TARA (Tenants and Residents Association - Local Space)
The Children’s Society – New Londoners Project
The Harmony Family Centre
The Hub
The Trinity Centre
Volunteer Network Centre (VNC)
Volunteer Reading - East London Branch
What Will the Harvest be?
WHEAT Mentor Support Trust
References:
1 Peter Kenway, Tom MacInnes (2009) London’s Poverty Profile, City Parochial Foundation & New Policy Instititue
2 D Rai, J Withey, G Tampubolon, C Thacker, J Ogg & J Burton (2008 )Household Panel Survey Wave 5, London Borough of Newham
3 D Rai, J Withey, G Tampubolon, C Thacker, J Ogg & J Burton (2008 )Household Panel Survey Wave 5, London Borough of Newham
4 Peter Kenway, Tom MacInnes (2009) London’s Poverty Profile, City Parochial Foundation & New Policy Instititue
5 (2008) Newham Homelessness Strategy 2008-2013, London Borough of Newham
6 D Rai, J Withey, G Tampubolon, C Thacker, J Ogg & J Burton (2008 )Household Panel Survey Wave 5, London Borough of Newham