London child poverty 'appalling'

Nearly eight out of 10 children live in poverty in Tower Hamlets

London has an "appalling" rate of child poverty with about 50% of children in 16 boroughs living in or on the brink of destitution, a report claims.

The Campaign to End Child Poverty says 79% of children in Tower Hamlets, east London, are in families classed as "struggling" - 42,850 children.

The campaign classes households as being in poverty if they are living on under £10 per person per day.

Tower Hamlets council said it would do "all it can" to reduce child poverty.

The Campaign to End Child Poverty is a coalition of more than 130 organisations including Barnardo's, Unicef and the NSPCC.

Life expectancy

The report's figures are made up from Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit data, and have been calculated by the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion.

According to the report, Tower Hamlets wards Bethnal Green South and St Dunstan's and Stepney Green have very high levels of child poverty, with 87% of children classed as "struggling".

There are hundreds of thousands of children living in our capital city who are being failed by the system Martin Narey, Campaign to End Child Poverty chairman

This figure stood at 75% in Tottenham, north London, while in New River ward in Hackney, east London, 40% of children (1,510 children) come from working families who rely on Working Tax Credit.

Campaign spokeswoman Hilary Fisher said: "We have got one in two children in Inner London living in poverty, which is an appalling figure."

She added: "If you go from Green Park east, each stop you stop at you lose a year of your life expectancy."

Campaign chairman Martin Narey said: "There are hundreds of thousands of children living in our capital city who are being failed by the system."

'High deprivation'

A Tower Hamlets council spokesman said: "We cannot underestimate the scale of the challenge child poverty presents.

"It involves the council, primary care trust, voluntary agencies and many other organisations all working together to ensure families that are struggling receive all the support they need."

The council aims to tackle child poverty by offering parents advice on employment, childcare and training, the spokesman said.

It also gives bursaries to young people who are eligible for free school meals or with special educational needs, to spend on "positive activities" such as sports training and art classes.

"Whilst high levels of deprivation should not mean reduced outcomes for children, we will be doing all that we can to ensure child poverty levels are significantly reduced here in Tower Hamlets," the spokesman said.

The Campaign to End Child Poverty said the government could miss its target to halve child poverty by 2012 unless it invests £3bn in tax credits and benefits in the next Budget.

It will stage a campaign rally in Trafalgar Square on Saturday.