Why we need to rethink Greenwich Supports now

Our focus is to improve people’s lives, and there are four key reasons to respond to the poverty situation in the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

Across the UK, poverty has increased and is still deepening

One in five people is in poverty after paying their housing costs. Furthermore, the number in very deep poverty is increasing, making it the largest group defined as living in poverty.

Poverty is projected to worsen because absolute low income is set to rise. Also forecasted to make a sharp rise is absolute child poverty. 

We’re seeing more local people in poverty with more complex and higher needs

The Royal Borough of Greenwich remains one of the most deprived areas in England despite some improvement in rankings, with significant geographical variation.

The borough has a higher child poverty rate (36%) compared to London (33%) and England (29%).

Housing costs are also higher, with more reliance on renting (31% social rented versus 17% in England; 26% private rented versus 21% in England). 

The Royal Borough of Greenwich faces immediate financial pressures and uncertainty from central government around key support services

Ensuring that support services remain affordable and sustainable is crucial.

There has been a 53% reduction in core funding since 2010 due to government cuts and austerity measures.

This has created substantial financial strain, with a £50 million shortfall last year and an anticipated £33 million for 2025/26.

The homelessness crisis and rising cost of living have worsened the situation.

Additionally, key funding grants from central government, such as the Household Support Fund and the Holiday and Activities Programme, are set to end in 2024, jeopardising essential services.  

Our current support services, though significant, are reactive and siloed, focusing on specific needs with specialised solutions

While service teams excel in their areas, they rarely collaborate simultaneously across multiple areas, hindering the connection with residents.

A rethink aims to eliminate duplication and streamline support around residents as whole individuals or families in a more preventative way.  

A shared definition of poverty

We are using the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s (JRF) definition of poverty. This definition encourages members and officers at the Royal Borough of Greenwich to have constructive conversations about the needs in the borough and to design meaningful responses with local people and their communities. 

When a person’s resources (mainly their material resources) are not sufficient to meet their minimum needs (including basic goods, services and social participation). 

View JRF's full definition of poverty, including needs, resources, and sufficiency  

By using this definition, we acknowledge that poverty is: 

  • Dynamic: We must focus on preventing poverty as well as offering routes out of it. There needs to be intervention that is likely to have the most substantial and lasting impact on those with the fewest resources.
  • Complex: It should be considered in relation to the level of the individual, family or household, and how people’s needs and resources could change.
  • Structural: Eliminating poverty requires addressing the systems that cause and sustain it through a multi-dimensional approach. This targets the root causes of poverty and related societal, environmental and economic harms. 

JRF has outlined a new economics approach that proposes poverty should be tackled through: 

  • reforming money and banking
  • paying attention to power and time
  • building strong local economies 
  • addressing economic inequalities 

Who needs support 

Some groups are more likely to experience persistent poverty including: 

  • children
  • lone parents
  • larger families  

Other groups with higher rates of poverty include:  

  • women
  • many minority ethnic groups
  • people living with a disability
  • informal carers
  • people who are not in work, work part-time or are self-employed 

View the JRF’s UK Poverty 2024 report 

Causes and impact of poverty

People can experience poverty for a range of reasons including:  

  • Life events that trigger financial hardship such as care responsibilities, bereavement, illness, relationship breakdown or unemployment. These are likely to make it hard to pay for essentials such as food, rent and phone bills. According to research from Turn2Us, people who experience multiple life events are more likely to make ends meet for more than a month.
  • Financial drivers such as insufficient income (from work, benefits, pension, interest on savings, goods, gifts), assets, debts, rising cost of living, and poverty premium.
  • Risk factors that more negatively impact certain groups of people. Risk factors include generational poverty, living in a deprived household, lack of social support or isolation, and certain cultures or races.