A report provided findings from the third wave of a qualitative longitudinal study, which began in 2003, following a sample of lone mothers who elected to move into employment supported by tax credits following a period of unemployment. It examined employment sustainability, exploring the factors that influenced how the mothers and children had experienced employment over time and how they had managed the everyday challenges of combining work and care.
Source: Tess Ridge and Jane Millar, Work and Well-being Over Time: Lone mothers and their children, Research Report 536, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report | Summary | Bath University press release
Date: 2008-Dec
A report said that lone parents needed more support to make returning to work financially viable. It called on the government to review the benefits and tax credit systems, and take urgent action to help lone parents manage the transition into work. The most common worries for lone parents trying to return to work were finding employers prepared to be flexible around childcare obligations and accessing affordable childcare.
Source: Katie Lane, Barriers to Work: Lone parents and the challenges of working, Citizens Advice (020 7833 2181)
Links: Report | Citizens Advice press release
Date: 2008-Nov
A report presented findings from a qualitative study designed to explore the effects of benefit sanctions on lone parents' employment decisions and moves into employment. Incurring a sanction did cause some lone parents stress: but the sanction regime had negligible effects upon labour market behaviour.
Source: Vicki Goodwin, The Effects of Benefit Sanctions on Lone Parents' Employment Decisions and Moves into Employment, Research Report 511, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2008-Aug
A report presented findings on the implementation and effectiveness of the Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) demonstration programme for New Deal 25 Plus 'customers' two years after entering the programme. (The ERA is a combination of employment counselling services and financial supports to certain recipients of government benefits or lone parents claiming working tax credit).
Source: Cynthia Miller et al., Implementation and Second-Year Impacts for New Deal 25 Plus Customers in the UK Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration, Research Report 520, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2008-Aug
A report presented the findings from a qualitative evaluation of the New Deal Plus for Lone Parents pilot in Jobcentre Plus districts in Scotland and Wales. Staff felt that the pilot offered lone parents the support needed to address multiple barriers to entering employment: but there was a need to 'fine tune' some of the elements to make them more appropriate to claimant needs.
Source: Sarah Jenkins, Extension of the New Deal Plus for Lone Parents Pilot to Scotland and Wales: Qualitative evaluation, Research Report 499, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2008-Jun
Researchers examined the experiences of lone parents under the Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) demonstration programme (designed to help low-income individuals who entered work to sustain employment and advance in the labour market). Lone parents earned substantially more than they would have done without the programme.
Source: James Riccio et al., Implementation and Second-year Impacts for Lone Parents in the UK Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration, Research Report 489, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2008-May
An article examined the origins, aims, and design of tax credits, and the extent to which they represented a new approach in social security policy. It focused on the role that these transfers played in supporting lone mothers in employment. It highlighted the tensions between family and employment change and tax credits rules about reporting changes in circumstances and income.
Source: Jane Millar, 'Making work pay, making tax credits work: an assessment with specific reference to lone-parent employment', International Social Security Review, Volume 61 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Apr
A report presented the findings of a qualitative study of Jobcentre Plus involvement in children's centres. The effect of involvement on individual centres was reported to vary greatly: but where there had been personal adviser input for some time, there was usually a clear effect in terms of numbers of people being seen by Jobcentre Plus, and in people entering training and employment.
Source: Sally Dench, Jane Aston and Laura James with Rowan Foster, Jobcentre Plus and Children's Centres, Research Report 485, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2008-Apr
Researchers compared the findings of a number of published evaluations of the New Deal for Lone Parents, lone parent work-focused interviews, and working families tax credit.
Source: Andreas Cebulla and Guilio Flore with David Greenberg, The New Deal for Lone Parents, Lone Parent Work Focused Interviews and Working Families Tax Credit: A review of impacts, Research Report 484, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2008-Mar
A report examined the business case for private employment agencies to provide additional support for lone parents moving into work.
Source: Anthony Rafferty and Jay Wiggan, Lone Parents and the Reform of UK Public Employment Services: Examining the role of private recruitment agencies, Recruitment and Employment Confederation (020 7009 2100)
Links: Report | Summary | REC press release
Date: 2008-Feb
An article examined the effect of the introduction of working families' tax credit in 1999 on lone mothers. The reform had led to a substantial increase in their employment rate of about 5 percentage points, which was driven by both a higher rate at which lone mothers remained in the labour force and a higher rate at which they entered it. The generous childcare credit component of the reform played a key role in explaining the estimated employment and childcare usage responses.
Source: Marco Francesconi and Wilbert van der Klaauw, 'The socioeconomic consequences of 'in-work' benefit reform for British lone mothers', Journal of Human Resources, Volume 42 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jan