Generar valor comunicativo: Implica Generar espacios de comunicación y articulación entre el equipo de trabajo; desarrollar acciones que permitan compartir conocimientos y

Longer term barriers to work include low aspirations, educational under-

achievement and lack of training. Opportunities to improve training and education may not be accessible to some individuals because of transport costs, fees,

physical access and a lack of awareness about availability. More immediate barriers include location and accessibility of jobs, lack of flexibility regarding hours, limited availability of affordable childcare, and limited practical support to carers. Lack of access to affordable childcare keeps many people out of paid employment and training, especially among low-income families and those in deprived communities where provision may be scarce. Over twice as many lone parents (17 per cent) cited childcare costs as the main reason they did not work compared to couple mothers (eight per cent)50

. Housing Benefit tapers, especially for those in temporary accommodation, are also a significant disincentive to work.

Social housing providers are key to improving pathways to work and have the potential for integration with other services. Registered Social Landlords are being encouraged to engage with a much wider social agenda than just providing housing, such as employment services51

and financial inclusion work52

. The Hills Review of the future role of social housing makes the point that worklessness is high in social housing and it has not achieved the positive impact on employ- ment rates that might be expected from the impact on work incentives that should arise from sub-market rents. The Mayor welcomes the emphasis on tackling worklessness in the Hills Review and supports the proposals for more integrated housing and employment support and more neighbourhood level employment initiatives53

.

Policy statement 1.3: Reducing the negative impact of poverty The Mayor will work to protect people on low incomes from the associated negative health and social impacts, and improve access to timely advice and support to those at risk of poverty.

Proposed action The Mayor will:

• Co-ordinate the development of interventions to increase financial security for people at points of transition in their lives such as leaving school, entering the workforce, leaving prison, acquiring an illness or impairment, leaving work, or becoming a parent or carer.

• Seek to increase investment in integrated early interventions to improve life chances, focusing on maternal, infant and child health and well-being. • Support local authorities to further increase access to leisure and recreation

facilities, including green spaces and rivers, for people on low incomes. • Work with the London Development Agency to improve the affordability

and availability of fresh, healthy food.

• Support local authorities and VCS groups to improve access to responsible lending, such as credit unions and banks, for people on low incomes.

Reducing the negative impact of poverty: why this focus?

Being unable to make ends meet or to participate in family and community life can cause long-term chronic stress, which has a direct negative impact on health. Such stress can also cause people to adopt behaviours that are

damaging to their health. For example smoking rates are higher among men and women in routine and manual occupations (35 per cent of men and 31 per cent of women) than among those working in professional and managerial

occupations (21 per cent and 18 per cent respectively)54

.

The negative impacts of smoking and drinking alcohol are likely to dispro- portionately affect those on lower incomes. For example, the negative impacts of smoking on respiratory health are likely to be greater for a person living in damp housing. The costs of these activities can also place a greater financial strain on people on low incomes than those in more affluent groups.

People on low incomes have difficulty accessing the building blocks of a healthy lifestyle. Research into the process by which low income families make food decisions found that children in these families received more of their preferred foods, such as chips, beans, burgers and fish fingers, than their more affluent friends. The reason given for this was that the children were given the food they liked in order to avoid waste. Mothers felt that they could not afford more expensive foods like fruit, nor take the risk of buying nutritious foods their families might not eat.55 56

Access to leisure and sporting opportunities is also limited by family income, as is access to safe public places and green space that can offer health benefits. Research by Sport England found that only 15 per cent of Londoners in the lowest socio-economic group regularly participate in sport and active recreation compared to 26 per cent of those in the highest socio-economic group57

. London Swimming has identified ‘cost’ as one of the biggest barriers to people participating in swimming and other pool-based activity58

.

Finally, those on low incomes have inadequate access to financial advice, debt management and welfare rights. The lack of transparent information and advice about the real cost of financial products from large high-street lenders leaves many people vulnerable to increased debt. Their desperation is often exploited by private ‘loan sharks’ and other irresponsible lenders that have proliferated in deprived areas of London in recent years.

Objective 2: To increase opportunities for people to access the potential