Children in Tower Hamlets are poorest in UK with 42 per cent living below breadline

 
P28 Whitechapel Tower Hamlets Pic:Alex Lentati
Alex Lentati
Kiran Randhawa20 February 2013

Four in 10 children in Tower Hamlets live in poverty, research shows today.

About 42 per cent of youngsters in the east London borough are living below the breadline — the UK’s worst-hit area. This compares with the national average of 20 per cent or one in five children living in poverty.

The Campaign to End Child Poverty found that Islington, Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Westminster and Haringey are among the worst 20 local authority areas when it comes to children living in deprived conditions.

Enver Solomon, chairman of the campaign, said: “The child poverty map reveals the depth and breadth of child poverty across the country, showing the gross levels of inequality that children face in every region.

“The huge disparities that exist across the country have become more entrenched and are now an enduring reality, as many more children are

set to become trapped in long-term poverty and disadvantage.”

The campaign has written to local authority leaders in the worst-affected areas to ask them how they propose to tackle the problem, added Mr Solomon.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies predicts a growth in child poverty of 400,000 between 2011 and 2015, and a total of 800,000 by 2020.

… But council can pay 306 staff £50,000 or more a year

Tower Hamlets was accused of paying too many officials high salaries today. The council had 306 members of staff on salaries of £50,000 or more, according to a survey by the Taxpayers Alliance. By contrast, Lewisham paid only 160 staff such salaries, although it served a bigger population.

The charge came in a report that castigated local government for spending £1.9 billion nationally on more than 28,000 officials earning £50,000, which is almost twice the national average salary. Alliance chief executive Matthew Sinclair said: “Taxpayers are still paying far too much for bloated bureaucracies.”

Tower Hamlets denied being out of line with other authorities. “As a high performing council and a borough with complex needs it is essential we have staff of a high calibre and to attract the best staff we need to offer competitive salaries,” said a spokesman.

She said it had cut management costs and delivered most services in-house.

Joe Murphy

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