Published: January 10, 2012

ALMOST half of all children in Islington are living in poverty, grim new statistics reveal. Despite its reputation as the home of Britain's upper-middle class elite, the borough has the second highest level of childhood poverty in the country with 43 per cent of its 37,000 children living below the breadline.

Labour politicians said the situation was likely to grow worse as the impact of changes to housing benefit and the impact of the Welfare Reform Bill, currently in the House of Lords, were felt.

Only Tower Hamlets fares worse, a report published on Tuesday by the campaign group End Child Poverty says. The organisation is an umbrella group of children's charities, trade unions and church groups and is based in Clerkenwell.

Tim Nichols, a spokesman for the charity, said the level of poverty was measured by the number of families who's income is less than 60 per cent of the national average.

"We've found that at this point families have difficulty paying bills, buying children's clothing, or meeting unexpected costs, such as paying for a new boiler. Below the poverty line there are more serious problems, such as with food."

The report lambasts the coalition government's record on child poverty, arguing it is talking too much and taking too little action.

"Between 1998 and 2010, the number of children in poverty was reduced by 900,000," it says. "The task that the new government has accepted is to continue this progress. However, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has forecast that present policies will cause a further rise in child poverty. To say that the start made by the coalition in unimpressive would be an understatement.

Too much time has been spent on rhetorical debate to reinterpret the previous government’s record and reinterpret what child poverty means. Too much time has been lost with delays to the child poverty strategy and establishment of the Child Poverty Commission. And the Treasury quietly dropped the child poverty targets from its objectives when it published its departmental business plan."

Both of Islington's constituencies - Islington North and Islington South, were in the top 20 for highest child poverty rates - with 46 per cent of children in Islington South and 40 per cent of children in Islington North living in poverty.

Emily Thornberry, the Labour MP for Islington South, said the figures were an indictment of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government's policies.

"We are supposed to be all in this together," she said. "Well, tell Islington children that. Either this government is incompetent or doesn't care. I think it doesn't care. When Labour was in power it set up things like Sure Start, increased tax credits and child benefit. These are all now being undermined by this government which has brought the economy to a standstill. If you don't have a job, what's going to happen to your kids? The cap on housing benefit means that even more families will have trouble paying rent."

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour MP for Islington North also blamed the high cost of housing in the borough.

"I'm very saddened and shocked at these figures," he said. "The reasons are complex but one of them is the very high cost of housing, particularly with the very large number of children being brought up in private accommodation with high rents. We need more investment in housing. We also need higher wages. Islington Council and Transport for London pay the London minimum living wage, but most private employers do not. Many people in employment have to claim housing benefit because wages are so low."

- see Friday's Tribune for full report.