News and Views
During London Challenge Poverty week organisations and individuals come together to deepen our collective understanding of the experience of poverty in London in 2024 and encourage positive debate and discussion about what is needed to end it. Explore this page to find out more…
If you have a blog, poem, podcast, report or anything else that you’d like to share do drop us a line.
Press release: new data analysis on older people living in poverty in London
Age UK London
New analysis released by Age UK shows that 78% (0.2m) of pensioners in London, in poverty or just above the poverty line, will no longer receive Winter Fuel payments, if they are means tested.
Blog: “Ending Social and Institutional Maltreatment”: What It Means for the APLE Collective and those with Lived Experience of Poverty.
APLE Collective
Check out the APLE Collective’s latest blog post to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty which explores this year’s powerful theme and its call to action.
Blog: The reality of temporary housing
Quaker Social Action
Cook Up provides free to use kitchen spaces in central and east London to cook, for anyone who feels they need a cooking space. To mark London Challenge Poverty Week 2024 taking place from 14 -20 October, Sean McNamara (Cook Up Development Worker) and Aqeelah Malek (Cook Up Manager) have co-written this a blog reflecting on the experiences of one of the families who have come to the kitchen to cook and the need for all children and young people to have safe, secure homes where they can study.
TCT Insights: London Challenge Poverty Week 2024 Research
The Childhood Trust
TCT has commissioned a survey with Censuswide, asking 1,650 Londoners across all 33 boroughs about their views on child poverty and whether London is a place where children and young people can thrive.
The survey revealed a startling reality: nearly half of Londoners (45%) are unaware of the full extent of child poverty in the city in 2024.
Podcast: What school didn’t teach us
The Food Foundation and Mayor’s Fund for London
A brand-new episode of The Intersect is out now to mark London Challenge Poverty Week. In it The Mayor’s Fund for London’s Youth Board hosts Samiya and Sahra are joined by Shona and Mirzan from The Food Foundation. Their important conversation touches on the stigma of free school meals, when food poverty is spoken about in schools and how young Londoners can be empowered to talk about these issues.
Poem: ‘To restore one’s soul’
Amanda Button, ATD Fourth World
In October 2020 to mark the International Day to End Poverty, people with lived experience of poverty across the country shared their original poetry. In this video, Amanda Button reads her poem ‘To restore one’s soul’.
Report: Mental Health Survey Report
ESDEG
ESDEG working in partnership with YMCA and a West London High
School have conducted a survey of over 100 young people, asking them about their mental health and how school affects this.
Article: How immigration policies push people into poverty & homelessness
Praxis
Praxis, supports people marginalised by hostile immigration policies with legal advice and community support. They see every day how cruel and costly immigration rules push people into poverty, debt, and destitution. This article looks into how the hostile environment makes people homeless.
Report: London’s Low Pay Landscape
Living Wage Foundation
This new report sets out to understand who earns less than the London Living Wage, and the impact this has on their lives. It functions as a companion piece to our previous publication, London’s Living Hours Landscape: Exploring Insecure Work in the Capital to provide a better understanding of in-work poverty in London by exploring its two main drivers: low pay and insecure work.
Blog: The changing nature of debt
Toynbee Hall
For London Challenge Poverty Week 2024, we spoke with Hazira, one of Toynbee Hall’s debt advisors about her work and the changing nature of debt
Blog: “Voices of Experience-The cost of living crisis”
HEAR and Parent’s Action
In Spring and summer 2024 Parent Action worked with HEAR Network to record the real-life experiences of parents and families we work with on the impact of rising inflation and the cost of living crisis.
Film: Unheard Voices
Home Start London
As part of London Challenge Poverty Week, we release a new short but powerful film ‘Unheard Voices’. The film shares the stories of two parents bringing up young families in London.
Dance: It’s Always Darkest before the Dawn
Barking and Dagenham Youth Dance
Premiered during LCPW 2022, BDYD use dance and culture in this film to explore issues around knife and gang crime and it’s relation to poverty.
Data tool: R.A.P.I.D. – Real-time Analysis of Poverty Indicators Dashboard
Policy in Practice and Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Policy in Practice, backed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has developed R.A.P.I.D. – a new tool to track more up-to-date aggregate rates of low income and poverty. It uses administrative data collected routinely by local authorities as part of the benefits award process to give a more real-time picture of poverty and low living standards in the capital.
Drama: We make our Mark
ATD Fourth World
On 20th October 2022, about 60 people gathered at Cherry Hall Gardens in Bermondsey to travel back in time to nineteenth century London to commemorate the International Day to End Poverty. In collaboration with the Journeyman Theatre, ATD Fourth World put on a show to shine a light on the dire conditions experienced by those in poverty during the Victorian era—as well as to explore this theme’s current relevance.
Blog: Who is in Poverty in London?
Trust for London
The latest data shows that after housing costs, one in four Londoners are in poverty. But poverty doesn’t affect everyone equally. Here Trust for London looks at how different groups are impacted.
Report: The Cost of Hunger and Hardship
Trussell
This report published in October 2024 explores the full scale of the need for emergency food in the UK, and the policy levers we have at hand to make a difference to hunger and hardship in the UK.
Art Exhibition: The Power of Creativity
ATD Fourth World
On 17 October 2023, ATD Fourth World, in collaboration with and supported by London Challenge Poverty Week, the APLE Collective, the People’s Company, and Amnesty International UK, held an immersive and dynamic event full of art and talent. From photography, to poetry, to paintings, to theatre, this exhibition encapsulated work done by people living in poverty, showcasing their glorious creativity.