The government’s new child poverty strategy risks having limited impact in Harrow, where rising child poverty, increasing numbers of children living in B&Bs and mounting failures across children’s services continue to place vulnerable families at risk. The borough’s recent political direction – giving an ever-stronger sense of a council shifting to the right with inadequate focus on inclusion – has only deepened concerns among those working with local families.
Ministers have pledged to stop children growing up in B&Bs, expand childcare support for families on Universal Credit, and introduce a new legal duty requiring councils to notify schools, health visitors and GPs whenever a child is placed in temporary accommodation, in an effort to create a more “joined up” system of support.
In Harrow, child poverty has risen sharply in recent years and frontline services are described by professionals as “stretched to breaking point”. The borough continues to rely heavily on emergency B&B accommodation because of a lack of suitable housing, leaving children for months in cramped, unsafe rooms despite the legal six-week limit.
Harrow schools say the consequences are now routine. Children arrive tired, anxious and unable to concentrate, while families placed suddenly in temporary accommodation often disappear from GP lists and health visitor caseloads because local services are not automatically notified. The government’s new requirement aims to close this gap, but professionals argue it will only work if Harrow’s children’s services – repeatedly criticised for delays, staffing shortages and missed opportunities to intervene – are properly strengthened.
Child poverty in Harrow remains among the highest in outer London, driven by soaring rents, frozen housing benefits and rising living costs. Although charities welcomed reforms such as ending the two-child cap, they warn the strategy falls far short of what is needed to move families into stable, permanent homes. Shelter said ministers must “get children out of temporary accommodation and into permanent homes”, while the Health Foundation urged the government to go further in tackling the structural drivers of poverty.
Locally, there is growing alarm that without urgent action, more Harrow children will remain stuck in unsafe B&B rooms, unsupported by overstretched services and exposed to the long-term harm associated with poverty and housing insecurity. Many say the real test of the government’s promises will be whether conditions for these children improve within months – not years – and whether the pledges made in Westminster translate into meaningful, visible change for families in Harrow now.
Ministers have pledged to stop children growing up in B&Bs, expand childcare support for families on Universal Credit, and introduce a new legal duty requiring councils to notify schools, health visitors and GPs whenever a child is placed in temporary accommodation, in an effort to create a more “joined up” system of support.
In Harrow, child poverty has risen sharply in recent years and frontline services are described by professionals as “stretched to breaking point”. The borough continues to rely heavily on emergency B&B accommodation because of a lack of suitable housing, leaving children for months in cramped, unsafe rooms despite the legal six-week limit.
Harrow schools say the consequences are now routine. Children arrive tired, anxious and unable to concentrate, while families placed suddenly in temporary accommodation often disappear from GP lists and health visitor caseloads because local services are not automatically notified. The government’s new requirement aims to close this gap, but professionals argue it will only work if Harrow’s children’s services – repeatedly criticised for delays, staffing shortages and missed opportunities to intervene – are properly strengthened.
Child poverty in Harrow remains among the highest in outer London, driven by soaring rents, frozen housing benefits and rising living costs. Although charities welcomed reforms such as ending the two-child cap, they warn the strategy falls far short of what is needed to move families into stable, permanent homes. Shelter said ministers must “get children out of temporary accommodation and into permanent homes”, while the Health Foundation urged the government to go further in tackling the structural drivers of poverty.
Locally, there is growing alarm that without urgent action, more Harrow children will remain stuck in unsafe B&B rooms, unsupported by overstretched services and exposed to the long-term harm associated with poverty and housing insecurity. Many say the real test of the government’s promises will be whether conditions for these children improve within months – not years – and whether the pledges made in Westminster translate into meaningful, visible change for families in Harrow now.
Harrow Monitoring Group 