This Trust for London updates an earlier 2009 report to assess what has changed.

It’s findings include:

• Child poverty has fallen in London, while working-age poverty has risen. But the number of children and working-age adults in in-work poverty grew. Over one million people now live in low-income families where at least one adult is working, an increase of 60% over the last decade.
• Housing costs are a critical factor in explaining why London has the highest poverty rates of all England's regions. Taking account of housing costs, the poverty rate in London is 28%, compared to 22% in the rest of England, and the gap has grown in the last decade.
• Housing benefit changes mean that many parts of Inner London, particularly the Inner West, may become unaffordable for low-income families renting privately but. Outer London boroughs, where housing is cheaper, often have lower levels of public services per head.
• The number of unemployed Londoners is now above 400,000, the highest number since 1996, and the rate is rising more quickly than the national average. In total 900,000 working-age adults were either unemployed, economically inactive but wanting a job, or in a part-time job because they could not find a full-time one.
• The unemployment rate among young people is at its highest level for nearly 20 years (23%) and is still rising. Despite, on average, being better qualified than other young people in the rest of England, young Londoners are more likely to be unemployed.

More information

• trust for london

http://www.disabilityalliance.org/londonpoverty.htm

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