BBC Three, the Beeb’s young person’s entertainment channel, recently broadcast a two-part documentary titled ‘Growing up Poor’. With each episode focused on girls and boys around the UK who all survive on under £10 a day, the show highlighted just some of the struggles faced by the increasing number of young people that live ever closer to the poverty line.
In the girls corner we had Bridey, from Rothertham, continuously facing trouble with the law. Amber, from Bradford, dealing with her teenage pregnancy and Shelby from Glasgow dealing with 30 hours a week unpaid work and surviving on benefits of only £56.50 each week. The boys didn’t fare much better; Craig, Wes and Frankie were all under pressure to hold their lives together. With many of them struggling with parents unwilling or unable to support them, the six young people featured all faced growing up in society they were not yet prepared for.
Whilst many of us associate various areas of the UK with crime and poverty, our capital is often overlooked. Perceived by the world as a social hub of fashion, food, culture, business and wealth excess – London is also home to many young people that face an upbringing marked by poverty.
Over 600,000 young Londoners are currently living in poverty. Not only does this mean that the basic necessities the majority of us take for granted in our day-to-day lives are less readily available, living in poverty means almost every aspect of a young person’s life is tarnished. Opportunities are reduced, home life is harder, health is affected and education often falls by the wayside.
Unfortunately in the current economic climate, the lives of those living in poverty don’t look set to improve any time soon. The figures are terrifying. Research conducted in 2012 by Landman Economics for the NSPCC, Action for Children and The Children’s Society estimated that the number of families susceptible to the conditions of poverty is likely to rise to more than 1 million. Unfortunately proposed changes in tax and the benefit system will only add to this already shocking number.
So what are the characteristics that make a young person at risk of falling under the poverty line? Children living in families where no one works are at the highest risk, as are those in single parent homes. With London seeing the lowest Mothers’ employment rates in the UK and many Londoners living in single parent families, it’s easy to see a negative pattern emerging. Encouraging pathways for young people that lead to a life of employment is a start to finding a sure fire way of reducing their risk of future austerity.
With schemes in place to ensure young people are put on the right track for future employment prospects, it’s hoped that those that grow up in poverty have the encouragement and advice they need to ensure they have the opportunity to change their future prospects and in turn put an end to the continuing cycle of financial strain faced by many families in London.
These schemes include the likes of the Youth Contact. The Youth Contract is aimed at helping young people get back on track in education or to get a job with training. Aimed at some of the hardest hit social groups including those in care, young offenders released from custody or those with one or no GCSE A*-C grades it’s a positive step forward in ensuring young Londoners are given an opportunity to get their foot in the door when it comes to their future employment eligibility.
At the start of this year the Youth Contract was extended and is now available to even more young people due to the eligibility criteria being widened after The Department for Education saved around £20 million through the original competitive selection process. One aspect of the scheme I find fantastic is the focus on tailoring the programmes to suit the needs of the individual. I think it’s incredibly important that we acknowledge that not everyone is academic. Individual strengths should be celebrated and encouraged, it should be seen as a positive that we are all individually different. No talent or gift is better than the other; it simply means we’re all able to excel in exciting and varied pathways.
Tailored programmes within the Youth Contract include assistance in applications for education, training courses and jobs as well as involvement in projects focusing on skills training and improvement in numeracy and literacy. However, I believe the most important aspect is the focus on life skills. In my opinion education and training are important, but they can only take you so far. Practicing interview skills, application writing and being offered mentoring on issues such as finance, health and wellbeing can provide young people with long term solutions to improving their overall lifestyle. Having a job is all very well, but if you have no experience of how to manage your finances any improvement in your fiscal situation is sure to be short lived.
Whilst I believe that schemes such as the Youth Contract are invaluable, there are further issues that must be addressed. One aspect of the Youth Contract that hints at a problem faced by young people, including Londoners, is the cash payment incentive to employers – aimed at encouraging them to recruit young people. If finding a job wasn’t hard enough as a young Londoner, earning enough money to support yourself once you are employed is just another of the struggles they face.
Analysis of recent data has highlighted a worrying increased in the number of jobs in London paying below the London Living Wage (LLW). The number has increased by 100,000 in the past year. This means that currently a total number of 580,000 jobs in London are now paying below the LLW of £8.55 per hour. To me these are all just numbers – a worrying and disappointing numerical trend. A trend I dislike, a trend I disagree with but a trend I’m not currently directly affected by. However, to many young people in London this is a hard-hitting and unavoidable reality. Whilst one in five Londoners working in the capital are currently low-paid, half of 16-24 year olds are paid below the LLW.
With Mark Boleat, Policy Chairman of the City of London, stating that ‘youth unemployment is one of the biggest drivers of social exclusion and disadvantage today’, it is clear that something needs to change. Boleat holds a view shared by many, including myself. ‘Young people are the lifeblood of London like any great city. They bring the ideas, innovation, and enthusiasm needed to drive our economy forward. That is why it is vital that the City plays its part in tackling the pernicious problem of youth unemployment facing communities across the capital.’
To those reading this article, the issues I’m discussing may not personally affect you. This doesn’t mean they one day won’t. London is our capital – our social and financial hub. Young Londoners are the future of our city and if we do not invest in them and their talents we are all losing out. I often get the feeling that many people view the young through a tarnished lens. Stereotypes of benefit scroungers, purposeful council flat fuelled pregnancies and violent youth culture mean many who have been lucky enough to enjoy an upbringing in a home counties catered bubble think youth is wasted on the young. Youth is only wasted if we let it be. Let’s show young London that there’s something worth aiming for, the aspirational is attainable whatever your situation.
The Government and The Mayor are working hard to make a change, but there’s so much more that can be done. By listening to young people, taking their ideas on board respecting their views as worthwhile and their opinions as valid it will become more apparent what incentives will work. As once said by Bill Gates when being interviewed on his multi-billion dollar Microsoft empire, ‘At Microsoft there are lots of brilliant ideas but the image is that they all come from the top – I’m afraid that’s not quite right.’ It’s time we listen to and cater for the ones we’re trying to reach.
It may be a cliché but young people are the future. If something is not done to tackle child poverty and the vicious cycle that it fuels, London itself faces some unsettling and depressing prospects. As a young graduate struggling to find secure and fulltime employment, I myself am only too aware of the negative emotions and in turn physical consequences the recession can inflict on young people. Something has got to change. As with everything in life there’s always something that sparks a thought, an idea, a notion. It doesn’t have to be something big, it doesn’t have to ignite a passion in everyone, but if I can reach just one person with my writing – I know I’m making a change. Be a little pebble that starts a ripple in a big pool, you may only be small, but the changes you can make are infinite.
The post Child Poverty : Investing in Young London appeared first on Dont Mind Life.
