Camden launches Child Poverty Taskforce

The taskforce has been launched following a report commissioned by Camden Council and produced by the Institute of Health Equity which delves deep into the continuing impact of child poverty in Camden.

UK projections for the next generation’s health and wellbeing and social mobility are worse than their parents’ for the first time. Low-income families are at higher risk of poor health, which can limit education or employment opportunities and make it harder for families to escape poverty.

Read the published report.

Child poverty in our borough and across London is increasing. Growing up in poverty affects every aspect of a child’s life and their future life chances. No child in Camden should be going to bed hungry, sleeping in a cold home or living in temporary or overcrowded conditions, and no parent should have to choose between heating their home and feeding their children.

Councillor Richard Olszewski, Leader of Camden Council said:

“We are launching Raise Camden to bring partners together to find solutions to child poverty in our borough – and guiding this will be our Raise Camden Taskforce. We know the Taskforce model works. Our Youth Safety Taskforce — set up in 2017 following a series of youth violence incidents — took a forensic look at youth safety and produced recommendations around prevention, support and enforcement that allow practical action and approaches to be taken, that the council and its partners still use to this day in our work to keep children and young people safe. We want to follow this model to ensure every Camden child has the opportunity for a long, happy and healthy life.”

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Director of the Institute of Health Equity, said:

“Across the UK we’re not looking after the next generation. The income inequality in the UK is bigger than any country in Western Europe and we are pretty miserly in this country about investing in early childhood.

We would like national policy to move in a positive direction on reducing child poverty and give every child the chance to flourish — but the question is, what can we do locally? And it’s with that in mind the decision was taken to set up a taskforce to work together to corral the knowledge and experience of people across different sectors to improve life for children in Camden.”

Raise Camden is focused on three areas: child poverty, whole family mental health, and tackling racism and inequality. The areas were chosen because they are associated with negative impact and consequences for young people and their long-term development.

A partnership roundtable was held on Monday 12 May with national and local partners across policy, research, voluntary, private and statutory sectors discussing the findings of the report and resolving to take forward action through the taskforce, which is anticipated to meet for this first time this summer.

ENDS