Londoners know that finances have been tight for a long time now. Even before the current cost-of-living crisis, jobs and wages were flatlining and the government spent a decade decimating the public services that support us.
No one is seeing this more than parents and carers with young children.
In my role as London Assembly Member, I am meeting more and more families living below the breadline. These are often hard-working families, whose wages do not meet the rising costs of housing, food and providing for their children.
They are not alone. Figures from City Hall show that, across all of London, 35% of those with children are going without food or basics to manage the rising cost of living.
More worryingly, 1 in 5 parents reports using debt or credit to make ends meet. For many, this will mean paying back more than they borrowed to serve the interest on that debt – making them far worse off in the long term.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is doing what he can to help Londoners through this crisis. Whether that’s free school meals, an affordable homes program to slow rising housing costs or the Warmer Homes programme, these schemes are making a difference.
Free school meals ‘pivotal’ to reducing childhood obesity in Southwark over the last decade
But this is not enough. The economy and public services are overseen by national Government, not local ones. It is Ministers in Westminster who must step in.
This is why I am calling for the Government to introduce a Child Poverty Strategy.
This should include a targeted plan to increase incomes and wages for those with children.
It should provide the services and support that families need but cannot afford – like the provision of childcare, school holiday meals and a building proper stock of social housing.
More broadly, the government must start investing in our economy so that workers are not stuck in cycles of low wages that don’t keep up with inflation.
On top of this, the Government must lift the value of Universal Credit. When wages are low, having a job does not get families out of poverty. This is particularly true in London, where 40% of claimants are already employed.
Peckham food bank says government must increase Universal Credit payments
Child Poverty has been a growing – but predictable – crisis. The Government’s record of forcing austerity on our communities has massively increased the number of children in poverty. Then, when it crashed the economy last year, those families had no cushion to fall back on.
The Government must solve the problems it has made. It must introduce a national strategy to reverse the poverty it has inflicted upon London’s children.
WATCH: Baby Bank opens in Bermondsey with free clothes and essentials for families in need