Over 44 per cent of children in Hackney are living below the poverty line – more than double the national average – according to statistics released yesterday.
In total, 25,263 18-year-olds and under in the borough are living in poverty, figures from charitable body Campaign to End Child Poverty reveal.
The national average is just 21 per cent and only Tower Hamlets and Islington have a worse record than Hackney, making it the third worst local authority in England.
The data, recorded for every local authority and constituency in England, is based on figures collected in mid-2010. Any family on less than 60 per cent of median income in England is deemed to be living under the official poverty line.
This means that a couple with two children below the age of 14 living on less than £342 a week will be classified as living in poverty. For a single parent with two children under 14, the figure is £261 a week.
Not enough done
Kristine Wellington from the Hackney Community Empowerment Network, which represents voluntary and community organisations in the borough, said: “It’s shocking that the number is over double the national figure and it highlights that we need greater investment in community programmes.
“Not enough is being done to empower parents and therefore empower their children. We need a cross-borough approach with everyone working together.”
Angela Large, manager of the Ivy Street Family Centre in Hoxton, said: “We live on the doorstep of one of the richest areas in the world, the City of London, and it’s outrageous that so many children in Hackney cannot access the type of opportunities they should be able to nowadays.
“Many live without access to the internet and are not able to get out into the wider community.”
Just the start
There are fears that these figures may worsen. Think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, predicts an increase in child poverty by 2013 due to welfare benefit cuts and rising unemployment.
Over the past decade the level of child poverty has steadily fallen with 49 per cent of children affected in Hackney in 2007, and 44 per cent in 2008, although these statistics were recorded differently to those from the Campaign to End Child Poverty.
It is the first time in three years that such detailed local data has been released, exposing the worst hit wards in the borough. With 55 per cent, or 1,389 young people living in poverty, Hoxton has the worst record.
Clissold has the lowest proportion of children in poverty with 30 per cent or 744 people – but even this is still well above the national average.
A council spokesman said: “While child poverty still remains an issue in Hackney, we are making progress in this area. One of the many ways we tackle this problem is by supporting parents to gain employment.”
