Shell Brown is a 33 year old single mother from Tower Hamlets. Her two children – thirteen year old Takiya and eight year old Navy – both live with her in the area. Their father passed away last year.
“We’d been struggling to cope, but it’s worse now”, she tells me. “My son is on the autistic scale and has been acting up a lot at school recently.”
Shell wasn’t surprised to hear that Tower Hamlets had taken the number one spot in the UK’s top ten areas for child poverty. Figures from End Child Poverty say 53% of children in the borough are living on the poverty line; now, they’re calling on the chancellor to end the freeze on child benefits, set to stay in place until the end of the decade.
A child is said to live in poverty if they are in a family – like Shell’s – living on less than 60% of median household income. Other areas of London that made the top ten include Hackney (with 41% of children living on the poverty line), Westminster (41%) and Islington (40%).
“This government is not for us”, says Shell. “They don’t care about people like us. The Tories like to say that London is the best city in the world – it’s not! It’s only for rich people. That isn’t going to change into Labour come back into power.
“People like me are suffering because of the benefit cap…just feeding and clothing your kids is expensive…you can’t really survive.”
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Headline“They don’t care about us”: Tower Hamlets mother on child poverty
Short Headline"They don't care about us": Tower Hamlets mother on child poverty
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Shell Brown is a 33 year old single mother from Tower Hamlets. Her two children – thirteen year old Takiya and eight year old Navy – both live with her in the area. Their father passed away last year.
“We’d been struggling to cope, but it’s worse now”, she tells me. “My son is on the autistic scale and has been acting up a lot at school recently.”
Shell wasn’t surprised to hear that Tower Hamlets had taken the number one spot in the UK’s top ten areas for child poverty. Figures from End Child Poverty say 53% of children in the borough are living on the poverty line; now, they’re calling on the chancellor to end the freeze on child benefits, set to stay in place until the end of the decade.
A child is said to live in poverty if they are in a family – like Shell’s – living on less than 60% of median household income. Other areas of London that made the top ten include Hackney (with 41% of children living on the poverty line), Westminster (41%) and Islington (40%).
“This government is not for us”, says Shell. “They don’t care about people like us. The Tories like to say that London is the best city in the world – it’s not! It’s only for rich people. That isn’t going to change into Labour come back into power.
“People like me are suffering because of the benefit cap…just feeding and clothing your kids is expensive…you can’t really survive.”
Inside Success Union CIC claim to empower vulnerable young people, but allegations of underpayment and concerns over their fundraising practices are undermining their message.
