Barking and Dagenham Council has launched its Foundations for Change: Tackling Poverty
Strategy 2025/26, aiming to alleviate the high levels of deprivation experienced by residents. The strategy was detailed in the Public Reports Pack for the Health & Wellbeing Board and ICB Sub-Committee meeting on Tuesday Public Reports Pack.
The strategy addresses the fact that 42% of children in Barking and Dagenham live in poverty, a figure significantly higher than the national averages for children under 16 living in absolute low income families (England 15.6%; London 12.3%) and relative low-income families (England 19.8%; London 15.8%).
The strategy focuses on five particularly vulnerable groups within the borough: lone parents, large families with three or more children, people with disabilities or long-term ill health, care leavers, and young people with mental ill-health and those not in education, employment, or training (NEET).
Initial areas of focus, as outlined in the APS Plan on a Page, include increasing child maintenance take-up, supporting those affected by the benefit cap who could claim disability benefit, improving access to affordable and healthy food, addressing material barriers to employment, the cost of essentials for parents with young children, and improving transitions for care leavers.
A longer-term Anti-Poverty Board will be established to bring together key internal and external stakeholders to set a vision for the medium term for tackling Poverty in Barking and Dagenham. The Anti-Poverty Board will include community organisations and charities.