Tackling child poverty

1. Tackling child poverty Layla Richards London Borough of Tower Hamlets

2. The Business Case • 66% of children in Tower Hamlets live in families who earn less than 60% of the national median income • According to NI116 48% of children are living in poverty • 52% of children eligible for free school meals • 33% of families live on an annual income of less than £20K

3. Some other interesting employment data… • 42% of women are economically inactive; 37% of these ‘do not want a job’ • 6.5% of the working age population claim JSA • High job density levels – but, over 50% are in finance/IT and business roles; low % of part-time jobs • Only 16.5% of jobs are part-time (31.2% nationally)

4. Being a beacon… • Developing and disseminating approaches with Cornwall and Newcastle, including a ‘showcase’ event • Influencing national policy e.g. Child Poverty Act 2010 • Making child poverty everyone’s business and a shared agenda between local and national government

5. Our approach… • Tower Hamlets Partnership, which includes: • Leader of the Council and Elected Members • Health partners • Economic partners • Job Centre Plus • Housing • Children and young people • Children and Families’ Trust • NI116 owned by the Children and Families’ Trust

6. Making it everyone’s business • Community Plan 2020 priority; at the heart of ‘One Tower Hamlets’ • Cross-cutting priority in new Children and Young People’s Plan • Partnership wide strategy to tackle child poverty; shared accountability for action plan • Child Poverty Scrutiny Review

7. Response ‘ the ‘what’ A framework for tackling child poverty 1,281 more people into work though the City Strategy pilot (Jan 2008 – Feb 2010) Job brokerage service being rolled out in Children’s Centres Removing barriers to work 1,375 parents received “Passport to Learning” certificates in 2009/10 In four years NEETs have reduced from 13.5% to 6% Developing pathways to success Breaking the cycle of poverty 873 ESOL learners in the 2008/09 academic year Percentage achieving 5+ GCSEs A*-C including E&M has more than doubled since 2000 Mitigating the effects of poverty Gap between those eligible for free school meals and their peers is the lowest in the country

8. Our action plan

9. A partnership approach to reducing NEETs

10. Child poverty and NEET are closely linked NEETs are disproportionately likely to misuse drugs and alcohol Substance Misuse NEET Teenage pregnancy Truancy+ Behaviour Youth Crime 71% of young women who are NEET for 6 months+ between 16-18 years of age are parents by 21 Persistent truants are nearly ten times more likely to be NEET at 16 and four times more likely to be NEET at 18 Young people with Emotional and behavioural Difficulties are 4 times more likely to use illicit drugs Three in five excluded young people report having offended

11. Since 2006 we have reduced NEET…

12. And unknowns…

13. … and increased participation in learning • Participation in full-time education at 16 increased from 74% in 2004/05 to 80.5% in 2006/07 • Participation in full-time education at 17 increased from 66.9% in 2005/06 to 70.4% in 2006/07 • 14.2% growth in number of Year 12s studying in Tower Hamlets sixth forms and Tower Hamlets College

14. Key activities • Brought Connexions Service in-house • Reviewed careers contract • Established transition mentors • Implemented the September Guarantee • Increased choice of post-16 learning options • Worked closely with Tower Hamlets College • Increased investment

15. Innovative approaches • Strong partnership between the Youth and Connexions Service and the 14-19 Partnership, linking our Targeted Youth Support and 14-19 Reforms • Outreach through home visits and events to engage NEET young people back into learning • More personalised approach to young people to reduce the numbers who fall through the net • Increase in the number of taster and pre-entry level programmes so that the local learning offer meets the needs of our young people

16. Current targets – this year’s summer leavers • Work towards the raising of the participation age, increasing the percentage of year 11s progressing into learning from 86.7% towards 90% in 2010 and 100% by 2013 • Reduce drop out at 17 and raise 16-18 participation in learning to 90% by 2010 and 100% by 2015 • Increase the percentage of Year 11s receiving a confirmed offer of learning before the end of September from 67.7% to at least the national average of 88% • Target interventions at those still over-represented in the NEET, including 18 year olds, young people with LDD, white British young people and young people leaving the PRU

17. A partnership approach to tackling overcrowding

18. East London Even though overcrowding is a problem prevalent across London; the most severely affected overcrowded household are within the East London Sub region. According to the 2001 Census, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney and Waltham Forest have some of the highest cases of overcrowding within London.

19. Overcrowding in the Social Sector • By the far, the largest amount of overcrowding occurs in the socially rented sector • Specifically looking at overcrowded households, over 7,000 households on the housing register lack 1 bedroom (overcrowded) and almost 1,800 lack 2 bedrooms or more (severely overcrowded). This means that around 41% of households on the housing register currently live in overcrowded households

20. Reduce overcrowding in existing housing stock and putting in place preventative measures to reduce future overcrowding • Cash Incentive Scheme 1: Social mobility to the owner occupied sector for social housing tenants. • Cash Incentive Scheme 2: Getting under-occupiers to downsize to smaller accommodation. • Cash Incentive Scheme 3: Making the private rented sector a viable alternative tenure of choice through the Rent Deposit Scheme. • Knock-throughs: Knocking through 2 smaller properties into 1 larger one. • Lettings Policy: Sons & daughters priority

21. Increase the overall supply of housing for local people including a range of affordable, family housing • Piloting the Local Homes Initiative • Building New Council Housing • Buying back ex-council 3 bed plus Right to Buys properties • Increase housing supply through New Build by 9,000+ units by 2012 • Putting in place a detailed plan to tackle under-occupation through incentivisation and a package of support thus increasing our social stock • Promoting Low Cost Home Ownership products to overcrowded households • Re-housing 19 Gypsy & Traveller families

22. What next? • Focus on commissioning through Children and Families Trust • Child Poverty Strategic Commissioning Pilot • Needs analysis • Service mapping • Consultation with families • Service redesign – targeted at need and what works; focus on decommissioning • Responding to the Child Poverty Bill 2010

23. Lessons Learned • Strategic Framework helps to show partners where they fit • Look at what you are already doing and what you could do differently • Tackling child poverty can impact on so many outcomes

24. Questions and further information:Layla.richards@towerhamlets.gov.uk020 7364 2364