Tackling poverty

Islington Giving will enable the Help on your Doorstep initiative to provide an extra 3,000 people a year with access to vital services. This award-winning programme, launched in 2009, provides personalised support for Islington’s poorest residents by literally knocking on their doors.  It reaches those most in need, befriending and steering them towards services, education, employment and volunteering opportunities.

The facts:

• Islington is the eighth most deprived borough in England and the fourth most deprived borough in London
• 32% of local residents live in social housing – to buy a property in Islington you need to earn £65,000 a year, almost three times the national average.

Through Tackling Poverty, Islington Giving will provide personalised support for Islington’s poorest residents by connecting them to key services.

Help on your Doorstep

Help on your Doorstep is a revolutionary new ‘door-knocking’ programme, successfully piloted in EC1 and now extended to Canonbury and Finsbury Park. Staff visit residents with employment, benefits, debt, health and legal problems, providing immediate support and helping them to access local services, such as the Islington Law Centre and, the Mary Ward Legal Centre.

Islington Law Centre and Mary Ward Legal Centre

These two centres provide vital free help in schools and community centres, using lawyers, barristers and welfare rights professionals.

Staff from Help on your Doorstep and other local organisations make appointments for residents and ensure they attend. Demand for these services has grown significantly during the recession. There is a 90% take-up of appointments. There is conclusive evidence that residents are now getting the right benefits and services they were previously refused.

Islington Debt Coalition

Established in 2009, the Debt Coalition brings together 30 public, voluntary and private sector organisations – including Job Centre Plus, Age Concern, City and Islington College, Islington Council and social landlords – to provide crisis intervention and long-term debt solutions for individuals. It will provide financial literacy training in schools and community settings, with the help of volunteers with financial backgrounds.

We will invest a total of £1 million over five years in Tackling Poverty. £100,000 a year will ensure that Help on your Doorstep reaches Finsbury Park, Essex Road, Finsbury and Kings Cross, some of the poorest areas of Islington. This will provide help for an extra 1,500 people a year. A further £100,000 a year will provide a back-up welfare rights and legal advice service, run by Islington Law Centre, Mary Ward Legal Centre and the Islington Debt Coalition, providing help for an extra 1,500 people a year.

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