East London borough praised for tackling child poverty

Tower Hamlets Council has been shortlisted for a prestigious Beacon award for its work in Preventing and tackling child poverty.

With the East London borough often cited as one of the country’s most deprived areas, the news is a huge boost for the council’s children’s services and partner organisations – who have worked tirelessly to ensure local children are given every opportunity to succeed in life.

Through a number of targeted initiatives and partnership work, the council has successfully ensured that deprivation has not seen the education, safety and aspirations of local young people suffer.

Schools in the borough achieved their best ever results at both GCSE and A-level this year, and youth crime is lower than many other London boroughs. And Tower Hamlets youngsters even outdid their national counterparts when it came to aspirations, with the 2007 Tell Us survey showing more young people in the borough said they are looking to go to university than the national average.

Child poverty levels remain high in the borough though, and there are a number of challenges for the council to overcome in order to reduce the impact poverty has on local children. The council’s strategy to address child poverty focuses on four key priorities.

Removing barriers to work includes offering parents childcare options that allow them to go to work, and also supporting them in their search for employment. Developing pathways to success sees investment in long term training options in the basic skills that lead to employment, whilst Breaking the cycle of poverty includes the council’s continued focus on improving education and preventing young people from becoming NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training).

Lastly, Mitigating the effects of poverty involves making sure local young people have access to cultural, leisure and sporting activities as well as other services provided for them.

Following the short listing, judges from the Beacon scheme will now visit Tower Hamlets in November. The judges will look closely at the services and initiatives in place to address child poverty and the council will find out if it has received a Beacon award for Preventing and tackling child poverty at an awards ceremony on 3 March.

Cllr Clair Hawkins, Lead Member for Children’s Services at Tower Hamlets Council said: “No child should ever have to grow up in poverty, and we will do all that we can to ensure children in Tower Hamlets get off to the best possible start in life.

“We face some significant challenges here, but the fact that we have been short listed for this award proves that we are making great progress in addressing child poverty.

“There is still plenty more for us to do, but we will continue to provide families who may be struggling with all the support they need and to give local children every opportunity to succeed in life.”

The Beacon Scheme recognises excellence in local government and Tower Hamlets Council currently holds Beacon Status for its work on Reducing Reoffending. It has won six Beacon awards since 2003, and in addition to being short listed for Preventing and tackling child poverty it is also in the running to receive Beacon awards for Raising economic prosperity through partnership and Positive engagement of older people.