Things don’t feel like they’re getting better yet, do they? The cautious optimism of mid-2024 is hanging by a thread. Switch on the news and very little seems to be going right. People on the lowest incomes continue to bear the brunt, and in London, the housing crisis is reshaping the city like never before.
Beneath the gloom, there are tiny shoots of progress. The new government is engaging more with civil society. Charities are in the room, being heard and respected. Even if their asks aren’t being taken forward, it’s a platform we can build on.
And the year ahead will bring opportunities for civil society with the child poverty strategy, the employment bill, renters rights, financial inclusion and the ethnicity pay gap – all areas where civil society will play an important role.
It will be hard. Change will need to be measured in small steps forward. But we’re committed to supporting partners fight for a fairer city.
Below, we hear from a selection of organisations we fund about the most pressing issues facing Londoners this year - and the changes we need to see to tackle them.
Manny Hothi, chief executive, Trust for London
London's housing crisis in 2025
The housing crisis will continue to loom over London this year. A record number of people are homeless and living in temporary accommodation, and the extortionate cost of housing is what pushes so many Londoners into poverty.
Hear from our housing lead Susie Dye on the economic and human impacts of the housing crisis. The London Renters Union and Generation Rent discuss the challenges facing renters. And more on London's shrinking rental market and hidden homelessness crisis.
Susie Dye, housing lead at Trust for London
The impacts of London’s housing crisis are horrendous. This crisis is pushing people into homelessness in record numbers: an estimated one child in every classroom is homeless. It locks people in poverty. It damages their health, their wellbeing, their ability to take part in society. And we think it’s increasingly pushing people out of London, risking our capital becoming just a playground for the rich.
The human impact of the housing crisis is clear. New research published towards the end of 2024 showed that it’s harming London’s economy too. Ultimately we need a once-in-a-generation investment in social housing. We need long-term thinking to override short term constraints.
But this will take time, and in 2025 the impacts of the housing emergency are all too clear. We need faster actions, such as permanently linking LHA rates to the cost of living, so that more homes are affordable to Londoners on the lowest incomes. The housing crisis will be the defining issue for London in 2025, and it’s urgent that the government takes real, ambitious action. Not just for the good of London and Londoners, but for the economic growth the government is relying on so that everyone is better off.
With owning a home a distant dream for many and more than 300,000 households in the city on the social housing waiting list, Londoners increasingly have to rely on the expensive private rental market for a home.
Already in 2025 there has been positive news for renters in London, with the Renters Rights Bill passing through parliament. This will end Section 21 'no-fault' evictions. But as the London Renters Union and Generation Rent write below, renters still face challenges.
The London Renters Union:
Too many of us have to put up with toxic mould and dangerous disrepair. As the recent controversy around Labour MP Jas Athwal shows, landlords know they can evade accountability.
The Renters Rights Bill introduces new safety measures, including the Decent Homes Standard (a stricter set of rules on disrepair) and Awaab’s Law, which creates new deadlines for fixing hazards. Landlords will also have to register on a national database.
However, we know these measures will only work if councils actually enforce them. A new private housing ombudsman is going to be introduced, but as social renters know, these systems are slow. Many of us will be left dealing with underfunded councils that ignore tenants’ complaints. Moving forward, councils will be required to publish data on enforcement actions, which is something we’ve long demanded. The government must now ensure that councils have the resources and will to crack down on landlords who break the rules.
The Renters Rights Bill is a big step in the right direction, but it won’t solve the housing crisis on its own.
Read the London Renters Union’s full blog on the Renters Rights Bill here.
Generation Rent
Research from Savills last year found that London's rental market is shrinking. From 2021-2023, 45,000 rental properties in London were sold, and no new homes replacing them. The market is shrinking fastest in the most affordable areas, impacting millions of renters and pushing more people into homelessness. With a decimated social housing sector, local authorities are relying heavily on the private rented sector to provide temporary accommodation for people made homeless.
Susie Dye, housing lead at Trust for London: "The government urgently needs to act to make homes more affordable, through ensuring Local Housing Allowance (LHA) covers the actual costs of renting for those who need it, funding for local authorities to support those made homeless in the broken housing market, and ultimately significant investment in building social housing."
London is at the centre of the country's homelessness crisis. In the last 15 years, the number of people seen sleeping rough on the streets of our capital has more than tripled. But behind closed doors there's an even more widespread crisis.
In 2023, the last full year we have data for, more than 60,000 households in London were homeless and in temporary accommodation (TA). Data from London Councils suggests the figure is even higher - that in fact 180,000 Londoners, one in every fifty, is homeless and in TA.
People are often stuck in TA for long stretches of time, with damaging impacts on their health and wellbeing.
Ultimately the government needs to tackle this crisis at its root by building more social housing and tackling the affordability crisis. But in the meantime it must act to make sure stays in temporary accommodation are as short, safe and healthy as possible. The London Housing Panel has set out the actions the government must take to do this here.
Challenges facing working Londoners in 2025
More than half of Londoners in poverty are in work. Low pay and exploitation are all too common. More than one in six Londoners in work are in paid below the Living Wage.
We hear from Dianne Greyson of the #EthnicityPayGap Campaign on pay inequality, Olivia Vicol of the Work Rights Centre on the Employment Rights Bill and the National Survivor User Network on concerns around the Government's 'Get Britain Working' plans. And we look at the rise of AI in the workplace.
Artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to play a bigger role in all of our lives this year, including in the workplace. Already the government has set out its ambition to make the UK world leader AI.
Used in the right way, AI has the potential not just to boost the economy, but also to lead to improvements in the lives of low-income Londoners. For example we know through our work with the Employment Legal Advice Network how AI could improve the efficiency of overstretched advice services, helping more Londoners access crucial support when they face an issue at work.
But while AI is developing at a rapid pace, regulations to protect workers and manage the risks are falling behind. Workers' voices are often missing from decision-making around workplace technologies like AI, and the most vulnerable are often hit the hardest. Unfair labour practices and a lack of transparency in decisions affecting workers' lives are real risks, like when AI is used to automatically allocate shifts. And AI risks reinforcing existing biases and leading to discrimination – both in the workplace and in wider society.
Ultimately, AI will transform the world of work. It’s vital that as the surrounding regulations evolve, they are informed by the voices of all workers. This will help ensure that AI changes society for the better, not the worse.
Dianne Greyson, founder of the #EthnicityPayGap Campaign
The Greater London Authority identified that the gap in median hourly pay between White employees and Black, Asian and minority ethnic employees in London (more than 22 per cent) is much higher than that across England & Wales outside London (around 1 per cent). This is very concerning.
With the backdrop of economic hardship for Black, Asian and other minoritised groups, it is time real action is taken to address the Ethnicity Pay Gap. Action will need to come from organisations and the Government, making sure to include the community in any discussions that take place.
The key challenges I see for 2025 is the lack of movement from organisations who try to avoid dealing with the Ethnicity Pay Gap now, preferring to wait for legislation to pass.
I am also concerned about the lack of engagement, knowledge and understanding that the community has about this issue. More education needs to be provided to ensure the community is fully aware of how the Ethnicity Pay Gap manifests and the impact it has on their economic growth.
In 2025 the #EthnicityPayGap Campaign will take the lead to not only raise awareness of this issue but to help to create actionable change. Our up-and-coming Ethnicity Pay Gap Summit which will be held on 7th February, we will be showing the way, giving actionable advice to make change. I will also be looking for organisations to fund a community reach project to enable me to educate the community on the Ethnicity Pay Gap.
Olivia Vicol of the Work Rights Centre:
With the Employment Rights Bill going through parliament and numerous consultations announced already, 2025 is a pivotal year for workers. The bill offers a real opportunity to plug gaps in employment protections for millions, and to improve labour enforcement in the UK.
We'd particularly like to see stronger action against rogue company directors, and a well-resourced Fair Work Agency where workers can report exploitation safely.
But while the government's enthusiasm for workers is encouraging, the "Britons first" agenda has a chilling effect on migrant communities, who make up more than 1 in 5 workers in the UK, and more than 2 in 5 Londoners.
Migrant workers, particularly those on employer-sponsored visas, face significantly more complex barriers to employment justice and deserve adequate protection. We are planning to use our voice and work with allies to plug these gaps in protections, with strategic interventions in both the Employment Rights Bill and the broader work migration system.
Towards the end of 2024, the Government published its 'Get Britain Working' White Paper, outlining its ambition to increase employment rates. It has also committed to continue with the previous government's plans to cut down the disability benefits bill. Here, Courtney and Kieran from the National Survivor User Network outline concerns that these concerns will continue to vilify the most vulnerable and push people into poverty:
One rising area of concern is around Government rhetoric on “economic inactivity” and “worklessness” among those living with long-term ill-health, including those with experience of mental ill-health, distress, and trauma. One place we can see this playing out is in the Government’s ‘Get Britain Working’ White Paper, published November 2024. The document outlined the Government’s plans for increasing employment rates in the UK.
Instead of taking this opportunity to reassure those in the social security system and offer an alternative to past administrations’ scapegoating of ill-health, the Government offered us more tired reasoning and precious little detail.
For all its emphasis on the fulfilment that some undoubtedly feel from being employed, the White Paper chooses to ignore the simple truth that work is not safe or possible for everyone. Unlike this Government, we believe that this should not disqualify anyone from receiving the support they need to live a full life.
While the Government maintains that those experiencing ill-health will be consulted on long-term social security reform, there was no attempt to engage with user-led groups prior to the White Paper’s publication, leaving us sceptical about its commitment to meaningful co-production.
The Government has also since indicated that it will press on with the Tory objective of cutting billions of pounds in social security spending, even after a High Court judge deemed the last administration’s consultation on reforms to be illegal. This leaves us with no doubt that this Government is far more concerned with our productivity than its obligation to build a society in which everyone can participate equally.
We will await further consultation on social security reform, but while we do so, we will continue to support and work with member groups across London, who demonstrate every day that our value is not in our productivity. These groups work to build the worlds they wish to live in. These worlds are ones where healthcare is shaped by the choices of those receiving it, where culturally-sensitive services are there for diverse communities, and where nobody’s access to the support they need to participate in society is dependent on their employment status.
On top of this, throughout 2025 NSUN will continue to work toward distributing power and resources in mental health. We have plenty to keep us busy; continuing to build capacity and solidarity across our membership, advocating for user-led and rights-based mental healthcare, influencing the Mental Health Bill, contributing to conversations around Community Mental Health Services, and pushing back against rising transphobia and transhostility in healthcare, to name a few.
Tackling child poverty in 2025
Levels of child poverty in the UK are shockingly high, and in London, a third of children are growing up in poverty. The government has set out its ambition to end child poverty, and this year will publish its Tackling Child Poverty strategy.
In this section we look at some of the big issues, and hear from 4in10 on what the government's child poverty strategy must include, and Z2K on cuts to benefits that will only worsen child poverty this year.
Katherine Hill, 4in10:
2025 will be a critical year for those campaigning for an end to child poverty in London and beyond. The Government has committed to publishing a child poverty strategy by the summer and a huge amount of hope is being invested in it to turn the tide on the rising level of child poverty that has shamed the country in recent times.
As part of the End Child Poverty Coalition, we have produced ‘eight tests’ that coalition members collectively believe must be met for the strategy to be effective. They are all vital, but for 4in10 the test that calls for the strategy to operate both regionally and locally as well nationally is key. The complexion of poverty in different parts of the country varies and strategy must both enable and require local and regional government to respond to this variation. In London this means the Mayor of London and London councils working together to tackle the exorbitantly high costs of living in our city, first among them housing but also childcare and other costs.
Additionally, and alongside many others, we are campaigning for the strategy to herald the end to the two-child limit and the benefits cap, a move that would, according to Trust for London analysis lift 55,000 people out of poverty in London and instantly improve the lives and life chances of children in these households.
Poverty among migrant families in London is another main concern and it is critical that the strategy does not neglect this group. This should include scrapping the “no recourse to public funds” rule that prevents many families who need it most from receiving support.
It is a truism that politics is the language of priorities, even more so it straightened times like these. Children who are being harmed by the experience of poverty must now be prioritised.
If the Government is serious about tackling child poverty, scrapping the two-child limit is a clear starting point. This policy caps the number of children that families can receive means-tested benefits for at two. It affects households with a third or subsequent child born after 6 April 2017, depriving families of much needed income and pushing children into poverty.
Child Poverty Action Group estimate that scrapping the policy would lift 300,000 children out of poverty and 700,000 children would be in less deep poverty. No other action would help so many children so quickly, or be such a cost-effective way to do so.
In total the two-child policy affects 1.6 million children in the UK. In London, 67,000 households were affected in April 2024. That’s 2% of all households in London – and at least 200,000 children living in households affected by the two-child limit.
The number of children affected by the policy increases every year, as more children are born after the 2017 cut off. Simply, the longer the policy is in place, the more children may be born into poverty.
In the Autumn Budget in 2024, the government announced £3 billion worth of cuts to disability benefits. Z2K's senior policy advisor Samuel Thomas outlines why this will only undermine efforts to end child poverty.
When it comes to considering which social security reforms might help to reduce child poverty, scrapping the two-child limit has rightly been the main focus. Research shows that, by a number of metrics, scrapping the two-child limit is the single most effective policy lever the government could pull to reduce child poverty. There has also been an increasing, welcome focus on the impact of the benefit cap on child poverty.
But what has received significantly less attention is the role that health and disability benefits play in alleviating child poverty. The most significant announcement that the government made on social security at the Autumn Budget was that it would be making £3 billion cuts to health & disability benefits. These ‘savings’ had been budgeted for by the previous government as part of its plan to remove over £400/month from over 400,000 seriously ill and disabled people.
Although the new government has indicated these plans will not be taken forward, it has committed to delivering the £3 billion cuts in a manner that is still to be disclosed – a green paper due in spring 2025 should set out more detail about this. But while the detail is still to come, it seems inconceivable that £3 billion of ‘savings’ can be found within the health and disability benefits budget without removing or reducing support for disabled people.
This matters in relation to the government’s ambitions on child poverty. Statistics from Trussell show that 70% of those who use food banks are disabled. And around one in four people on universal credit who receive the higher rate of incapacity benefits – the same payment that the previous government was planning to remove for over 400,000 people – have children. This means that an attempt to cut support on the same scale as the previous government proposed could see over 100,000 families losing access to vital payments of over £400/month – a significantly worse reduction in income on an individual level than the two-child limit.
The reality is that delivering social security reforms which truly support disabled parents and carers into work and thereby reduce child poverty means investing in health & disability benefits. Rather than further stripping back an already threadbare system, we need positive incentives which remove barriers to work for disabled families.
Read senior policy advisor at Z2K Samuel Thomas’ full analysis here.
Issues affecting migrant Londoners
London is the most diverse region in the UK - 41% of its residents were born outside of the UK. In this section we look at the issues facing migrant Londoners, and the NRPF Partnership outline one area where we need to see positive change.
Our capital's economy relies on migrant workers, across many sectors and industries. But despite this vital role that migrant workers play in all of our lives, migrants face a hostile environment, with a complicated and punitive immigration system that often pushes people into destitution. This includes extortionate visa fees, leaving many in debt.
Migration is a politicised issue, and change will be hard. It will require shifts in public attitudes and political courage. We'll continue funding campaigns, research and policy work focused on bringing about a new immigration system that champions settlement and citizenship.
Eddy Aigbe, Senior Project Manager at Citizens UK and Mary Awoniyi, Member of the NRPF Partnership Steering Group
The No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) policy denies welfare support to about 3.4 million people, and a further 675,000 people are affected because they do not have an immigration status. In Greater London, it is estimated that around 120,000 households are affected. Rooted in the hostile environment, it forces many families into poverty, homelessness, and hunger, and it disproportionately affects Black and minority groups and migrant communities.
As individuals with lived experience of NRPF, we know the harrowing reality of this injustice. This is not just an immigration issue—it undermines the fabric of a fair and just society.
The NRPF Partnership exists to tackle this systemic injustice. It was set up by Citizens UK, Migration Exchange, and Praxis, alongside those directly affected by the policy and advocates, to drive coordinated action and provide new funding to boost the movement to end NRPF. By placing lived experience at the heart of decision-making, amplifying grassroots efforts and creating space for collaboration, we aim to dismantle NRPF and replace it with a system that upholds dignity and equity.
Ending NRPF would benefit everyone. It would ensure people’s rights and dignity are not taken away by the immigration system. It would unlock London and the UK’s social and economic potential, enabling people to live full lives, stay safe and engage fully with their communities.
We seek to empower frontline organisations, support communities, and win incremental victories that build momentum for lasting change. But achieving systemic reform requires sustained effort and robust funding. We cannot do this alone. Your support will help us amplify our work, strengthen leadership, and build momentum to dismantle NRPF for good.
Read the FAQs – NRPF Partnership for more information.
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Between 2021 and 2023, refugee homelessness in London increased by 239%. When someone is given refugee status, they're given just 28 days to find a home. At the end of this period, they're evicted from asylum accommodation.
This short time period puts new refugees at increased risk of homelessness. We see the devastating impact of this policy on the streets of London.
On top of this, while their asylum claim is being processed, asylum seekers are banned from working. It can take year for an asylum application to be processed - forcing asylum seekers into extreme destitution. According to analyses by LSE, allowing asylum seekers to work could lead to boosting the UK economy by £1.2 billion, because of the increased tax revenue and reduced public spending.
