A paper examined the impact of the working families tax credit (WFTC) on the numbers of lone-parent families, and on a range of outcomes for mothers and children. There was no significant impact on family structure. WFTC was found to reduce the spike of 'high malaise' co-incident with the transition into lone parenthood, but to have no longer-term effects. There were significant improvements among adolescent children in self-esteem, unhappiness, and in truanting, smoking, and numbers planning to leave school at age 16.
Source: Paul Gregg, Susan Harkness and Sarah Smith, Welfare Reform and Lone Parents in the UK, Working Paper 07/182, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol (0117 954 6943)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2007-Nov
A report highlighted the barriers to employment faced by lone parents in Northern Ireland. Lone parents were highly motivated to work: but they faced a range of structural barriers, including lack of appropriate skills to ensure entry to and progression in the labour market, lack of affordable childcare, and the complexity of the benefits system.
Source: Ann Marie Gray, Equality of Opportunity for Lone Parents: Creating positive change through local and transnational partnership, Gingerbread Northern Ireland (028 9023 1417) and others
Links: Report | Summary | Ulster University press release
Date: 2007-Nov
A report highlighted the complex range of factors involved for lone parents making a decision about returning to work. Although employment was generally the best way for families to escape poverty, returning to work could often come at a significant cost.
Source: Vicki Peacey, London Lone Parents' Choices Around Work and Care, London Child Poverty Commission (info@londonchildpoverty.org.uk)
Links: Report | LCPC press release
Date: 2007-Oct
A report examined the potential of encouraging lone parents to work in jobs of fewer than 16 hours ('mini-jobs') rather than doing no paid work. Changes in the benefit regime for lone parents could have a significant impact on the number who chose to take up jobs and could help reduce child poverty: allowing lone parents to keep more of their benefits when they moved into work could lead to an increase in the lone parent employment rate of up to 5.4 percentage points.
Source: Kate Bell, Mike Brewer and David Phillips, Lone Parents and 'Mini-jobs', York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report | JRF Findings | IFS press release
Date: 2007-Oct
The Prime Minister announced plans designed to 'fast track' lone parents into employment. All lone parents would be guaranteed a job interview and on-site discussions with prospective employers. Lone parents would also be entitled to six weeks of benefits during a work trial, a £400 training allowance, and an extra £40 each week – £60 in London – for the first year of employment.
Source: Speech by Gordon Brown MP (Prime Minister), 10 September 2007
Links: Text of speech | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Sep
Two linked reports examined two closely related pilot programmes in eleven local authority areas in England, designed to help lone parents to move into work. Parents who participated in the pilots were generally positive about them, and the pilots appeared to have had a beneficial effect on parents' views of formal childcare.
Source: Sue Clegg and Vanessa Stone, Evaluation of the Childcare Taster Pilot and Extended Schools Childcare Pilot Programmes: Final Report on Qualitative Research into Implementation, Research Report SSU/2007/FR/027, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260) | Emma Green and Genevieve Knight, Evaluation of the Childcare Taster Pilot and Extended Schools Childcare Pilot Programmes: Further Qualitative Research into Implementation, Research Report SSU/2007/FR/026, Department for Children, Schools and Families
Links: Report (1) | Brief | Report (2)
Date: 2007-Sep
A paper examined employment trajectories for 560 lone mothers with a youngest child under 5 at the start of the period 1991 to 2001. It identified the share of women broadly stable in work, those broadly stable at home, and those following unstable pathways between the two. It examined the factors associated with different pathways, and whether individual and household characteristics, job characteristics, or circumstantial factors such as re-partnering, were most important.
Source: Kitty Stewart, Employment Trajectories for Mothers in Low-skilled Work: Evidence from the British Lone Parent Cohort, CASEpaper 122, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion/London School of Economics (020 7955 6679)
Links: Paper
Date: 2007-Aug
A report summarized the findings of focus group discussions with lone parents regarding childcare. Lone parents had unmet needs for childcare, and identified a number of gaps in childcare services that acted as barriers to take-up. Lone parents encountered considerable difficulties with childcare when working or trying to enter the workforce.
Source: Listening to Lone Parents About Childcare, Daycare Trust (020 7840 3350)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jul
A synthesis report brought together and synthesized all evaluation findings related to mandatory work-focused interviews for lone parents. The interviews worked most effectively for lone parents who were closest to being 'job-ready', and the target-driven delivery model of Jobcentre Plus appeared to be accentuating this. There was little incentive within the system to focus efforts on persuading lone parents on the margins of making a decision about working, nor on those who wanted to work but were at a greater distance from the labour market – even though it was from these lone parents that greater 'additionality' might be achieved.
Source: Andrew Thomas, Lone Parent Work Focused Interviews: Synthesis of findings, Research Report 443, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-Jul
A report said that, from a child?s perspective, lone parenthood could lead to a better quality of family life with significant advantages – especially fewer arguments, and freedom from violence. 'Policy discourse' should acknowledge this fact and stop treating the lone-parent family as a social problem or social threat.
Source: F. Taylor, S. Cohen, Karin Crawford, Susanna Giullari and Janet Walker, Integrating Children's Perspectives in Policy Making to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion Experienced by Single Parent Families: England national report, Single Parent Action Network (0117 9514231)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jul
An article presented empirical findings from a qualitative, longitudinal study of low-income working family life. It explored the experiences and perceptions of a group of children living in low-income, working, lone-mother households.
Source: Tess Ridge, 'It's a family affair: low-income children's perspectives on maternal work', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 36 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jul
Researchers examined the New Deal Plus for Lone Parents pilot, launched in April 2005. The move away from an entirely voluntary regime towards a greater focus on rights and responsibilities had been underpinned by an accompanying 'paradigm shift' in the behaviours required of advisers and lone parents. Among lone parents, the change towards mandatory attendance at interviews, while accepted by new customers, had faced some resistance from those already on benefit.
Source: Mehreen Hosain and Eleanor Breen, New Deal Plus for Lone Parents Qualitative Evaluation, Research Report 426, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-May
Researchers examined awareness and knowledge of the New Deal for Lone Parents programme, and the decision-making processes involved in non-participation. Reasons for non-participation included: attitudes towards parenthood (caring for children taking priority over other factors); concerns regarding childcare; financial concerns; and lack of awareness and knowledge.
Source: Richard Brown and Lucy Joyce, New Deal for Lone Parents: Non-participation Qualitative Research, Research Report 408, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-Mar
A survey of lone parents found that over three-quarters (77 per cent) of respondents who had gone back to paid work said that working had made them feel more independent, and 73 per cent felt more confident.
Source: Press release 1 March 2007, Jobcentre Plus/Department for Education and Skills (020 7273 6175)
Links: Jobcentre Plus press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Mar
Researchers examined three pilot schemes aimed at increasing labour market participation by lone parents. The initiatives made little difference to lone parents who felt it was not the right time to go to work. Lone parents with more complex support needs, those with health problems or with disabled children, also benefited little from the initiatives. Adviser capacity for effectively engaging with and supporting customers 'further' from the labour market, with more complex support needs, was a priority.
Source: Kathryn Ray et al., The Lone Parents Pilots: A qualitative evaluation of quarterly work focused interviews (12+), work search premium and in work credit, Research Report 423, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report | Summary | PSI press release
Date: 2007-Mar
A paper examined the existing evidence and policies surrounding the issue of job retention among lone parents. Lone parents did not suffer worse job retention outcomes than other client groups, but did suffer worse outcomes than partnered mothers. Increasing lone parents' job retention would increase the numbers in work and hence help in achieving a 70 per cent employment rate for lone parents by 2010.
Source: Alasdair Yeo, Experience of Work and Job Retention among Lone Parents: An evidence review, Working Paper 37, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2007-Mar
A new book examined how women negotiated lone motherhood in Britain and Germany, drawing on interviews with 70 unmarried lone mothers living on state benefits in inner-city areas. It explored the complexity and diversity of their lives, the ways in which they tried to manage choices and constraints, and how they positioned themselves as carers, dependants, or as paid workers.
Source: Martina Klett-Davies, Going it Alone? Lone motherhood in late modernity, Ashgate Publications (01235 827730)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Mar
Researchers evaluated pilots of a set of government policies designed to help lone parents into work. The pilots were found to have had small, positive impacts on the number of lone parents in work and no longer receiving out-of-work benefits.
Source: Mike Brewer, James Browne, Claire Crawford and Genevieve Knight, The Lone Parent Pilots after 12 to 24 Months: An impact assessment of In-Work Credit, Work Search Premium, Extended Schools Childcare, Quarterly Work Focused Interviews and New Deal Plus for Lone Parents, Research Report 415, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-Mar
A paper examined the characteristics of lone parents on income support whose youngest child was aged 11-15. A large proportion of this group faced some disadvantages when approaching the labour market, such as ill-health, lack of qualifications, age, and time spent outside the labour market. Measures in the Welfare Reform Bill aimed at lone parents on income support were unlikely to be sufficient to achieve the 70 per cent employment target.
Source: Tina Haux, Lone Parents with Older Children and Welfare Reform, Centre for the Analysis of Social Policy/University of Bath (01225 386141)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2007-Feb
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions said that the rules on lone parents' benefits might be changed in order to get more back into work earlier. He said that it was not unreasonable to stop income support once the youngest child reached the age of 12, rather than 16 under existing rules.
Source: Speech by John Hutton MP (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions), 30 January 2007
Links: Text of speech | NCH press release | CPAG press release | OPF press release | Parentline Plus press release | Employers for Childcare press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jan