Lone parent employment Andrew Latto Deputy Director, Child Poverty

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Lone parent employmentAndrew LattoDeputy
Director, Child Poverty
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Aims

• To reduce the number of children in workless
  households.
• To decrease the rate of child poverty.
• To help parents provide a role model for their
  children.
• To increase the confidence, well-being and
  self-sufficiency of parents.
• To increase the supply of skills available to
  employers.
• To reduce benefit expenditure.

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Lone parent benefit rules

• Working under 16 hours and youngest child under
  7 Income Support or ESA with Work-Focussed
  Interviews. If choose contributory JSA, then
  required to seek work within school hours.
• Working under 16 hours and youngest child 7-12
  required to seek work within school hours, or to
  claim ESA via medical assessment. Income Support
  continues for parents of disabled children.
• Working 16 hours or more Working Tax Credit
  (including childcare element) and, if eligible,
  In Work Credit. Childcare costs disregarded in
  Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.
• Early 2012 age lowered to 5, subject to Welfare
  Reform Bill.
• Late 2013 Universal Credit, age 5 remains,
  16-hour rule removed.

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Childcare

• Free childcare offer for 3/4-year-olds and
  disadvantaged 2-year-olds.
• Jobcentre Plus pays childcare costs for training,
  work experience etc.
• 2 billion from current tax credit/benefit system
  retained in Universal Credit. Take-up will be
  higher, e.g. automatic link to housing support.
  Working Tax Credit currently 70 of up to 175
  for one child or 300 for two or more. High
  tends to be better for first jobs, high upper
  limit for those wishing to increase hours. High
  tends to be better for school-age, high upper
  limit for under-3s. Current discussion in context
  of Welfare Reform Bill.

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Flexible working

• Consultation currently underway on ways of
  extending flexible working (Vince Cable/Iain
  Duncan Smith). Ends 8th August.
• Key aspect not so much legislation (although
  removes stigma of asking) as culture change
  (parental leave) and hard business case (Employer
  Group).
• As now, lone parents in Universal Credit will be
  able to restrict their availability for work to
  school hours. Same obligations will apply to
  couple parents.

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Employment support

• New Deal for Lone Parents closed at the end of
  March 2011. The funding has been transferred into
  the Jobcentre Plus Offer. Mostly aimed at those
  with children under 8.
• Lone parents in the Work Programme in 2011 will
  be
• those who have been claiming JSA for a year or
  more (mandatory)
• those with children 5 in the ESA work-related
  activity group (mandatory)
• those in England claiming Income Support
  (voluntary).
• Those with children under 13 can restrict
  activity to school hours.

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Lone Parent Obligations evaluation findings

• Dr. Jo Casebourne, Director of Research
• Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion

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Presentation structure

• Introduction
• Overview of LPO
• Evaluation
• Methodology
• Findings from lone parents with younger children
  before IS ends
• Findings from lone parents with older children
  after IS
• Implications for the future
• Next steps

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Overview of LPO

• Changes to lone parent eligibility for IS
• Multi phased roll-out for existing IS customers
• New and repeat customers
• Youngest child aged 12 or over from Nov 2008
• Youngest child aged 10 or over from Oct 2009
• Youngest child aged 7 or over from Oct 2010
• Youngest child aged 5 or over from early
  2012
• Additional changes to support LPO
• JSA Parent Flexibilities
• National roll-out of In-Work Credit

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Evaluation

• Overarching evaluation aim
• To explore the extent to which LPO incentivises
  and supports lone parents to look for and enter
  paid work
• Multi methods evaluation including
• International literature review
• Qualitative research with customers and staff
• Quantitative survey with customers
• Possible impact assessment
• In-house analysis of DWP admin data and other
  data sources

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Methodology

• Qualitative destinations study
• 202 lone parents with youngest child aged 12-15
• Jan-Mar 2010
• 5 case studies
• After IS eligibility ended
• 55 staff

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Methodology

• Quantitative survey
• 2,779 lone parents with youngest child aged 7-8
• May-Aug 2010
• National
• In final year of IS eligibility

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Lone parents with younger children before IS ends
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Summary of findings LPs with younger children
before IS ends

• Barriers to work
• This group shows greater levels of need than lone
  parents in the population
• qualifications, mobility, finance
• Needs are complex and wide-ranging

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Summary of findings LPs with younger children
before IS ends

• Childcare preferences
• Current emphasis is on informal childcare (as is
  the case for other parents)
• But there is some use of school-based childcare,
  and interest in using breakfast/ after school
  clubs and holiday clubs in the future
• Ex-partner also plays an important role

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Summary of findings LPs with younger children
before IS ends

• Moving into work
• Most are either looking for work or would like to
  work in the next few years
• Preference is for part-time work (16-29 hours per
  week)
• Work that fits around family commitments and
  other constraints (e.g. health, transport)
• But limited or no recent work experience, lack
  of skills limited jobsearch activity
• Lone parents feel there is a shortage of
  appropriate work
• Challenge to move into preferred type of work

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Lone parents with older children after IS
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Summary of findings LPs with older children
after IS

• Complex journeys
• Multiple destinations were common since leaving
  IS
• Most complex and difficult journeys involved ESA
• Lone parents with health problems in all
  destinations (ESA, JSA, IB, IS)

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Summary of findings LPs with older children
after IS

• Moving into work
• Work is positive
• Combining work and family could be stressful
• Better off between 16-29 hours
• Evidencing mini-jobs whilst on JSA complex

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Summary of findings LPs with older children
after IS

• Experiences of JSA
• A good understanding of JSA regime
• Self-help stage viewed more positively by new and
  repeat lone parents (than those previously on IS)
• Claiming JSA could be uncomfortable/demanding
• Involvement of specialist staff delivering to
  lone parents on JSA beneficial

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Summary of findings LPs with older children
after IS

• Experiences of JSA
• New and repeat lone parents were not always
  identified as lone parents
• Understood principle of sanctions, less
  understanding of detail
• Reluctance amongst staff to sanction lone parents

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Summary of findings LPs with older children
after IS

• Experiences of ESA
• Much less understanding of ESA regime than JSA
• Not aware of ESA groups or assessment
• Payment gaps as didnt understand regime
  requirements
• Regime not experienced as coherent process
• Lack of understanding of what to do when found
  fit for work payment gaps
• Face the same health issues once on JSA with less
  support should not be treated as new and repeat

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Summary of findings LPs with older children
after IS

• Experiences of other destinations
• Disconnected families not an issue
• Range of circumstances eg re-partnering
• Experiences of remaining on IS
• Exemptions from IS
• No suggestions people were having children or
  taking on caring to remain on IS

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Summary of findings LPs with older children
after IS

• Effect of LPO on attitudes to work
• Greatest effect for those moved directly from IS
  to JSA
• Dislike JSA regime a push towards work
• New and repeat customers often made redundant and
  already motivated
• ESA customers main short-term focus was health
  not work
• Did not impact on other groups

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Summary of findings LPs with older children
after IS

• Childcare
• Preference for informal childcare
• Gaps for older children
• Special needs
• Cost and availability

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Implications for the future
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Implications for the future

• Personalised support
• The diverse and complex needs and barriers of
  this group of lone parents confirm the need for
  personalised support
• Role of training
• Survey indicated a lack of skills and
  qualifications amongst many lone parents
• Participation in training may also be a way of
  giving experience of formal childcare (where
  available free)
• Childcare
• Demand may go up as those with younger children
  move into work depends on job

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Implications for the future

• Family-friendly employers
• Mixed picture from survey
• Suggests that DWP and Jobcentre Plus need to
  continue to work with local employers to promote
  family friendly workplaces
• Potential role for Child Maintenance Options
  Service
• Survey indicates the important role played by
  ex-partner in childcare provision
• Options Service can provide advice on maintenance
  arrangements to enhance lone parents work
  options
• Wider role includes advice on financial
  management and debt also an important issue
  raised by the survey

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Implications for Universal Credit

• Most want to work 16-29 hours per week, often
  exactly 16
• This is likely to reflect current system
• Will gradual tapering change lone parents
  preferences?
• Many respondents were not sure they would be
  better off in work (40 said this was a big
  barrier to work)
• Universal credit should address this
• But this is only one of many barriers
• At present, balance between work and family comes
  under pressure when working 16 hours per week
  (i.e. number of hours not just a financial
  decision)

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Implications for Universal Credit

• A barrier to staying in work was finding it hard
  to adjust to having money coming in every month
  rather than every week
• Budgeting support will be important

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Next steps

• Further qualitative research
• Currently interviewing 60 lone parents in 3 case
  study areas
• Focus on sanctions and JSA regime
• Youngest child aged 7
• Report in autumn 2011
• Further quantitative research
• Follow-up survey in 2012
• Youngest child aged 7-8

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Any questions?
Contact details Dr. Jo Casebourne ? 0207 840
8347 ? jo.casebourne_at_cesi.org.uk
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Returning to work what do single parents think?

• Caroline Davey
• Director of Policy, Advice Communications

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• Id do anything if it fitted around my hours,
  because then Id be happier and less stressed, so
  itd be worth it for the employer
• I am too qualified for my current position but
  due to the lack of flexibility in my career and
  no access to childcare I am unable to work in a
  higher paid job and still give my son a stable
  home life
• When I went to the JobCentre she told me yet
  again about the cleaning services at the
  hospital. Ive got a degree, why would I want to
  do that?
• Its more important for me to be in a job, no
  matter what job it is. I just need to earn money

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Context

• 1.9 million single parents in the UK
• 57 are in work
• 44 of single mothers in employment work over 30
  hrs/week
• Employment rates vary by age of youngest child
• 71 work by the time youngest child is 12
• 38 work when youngest child is 2
• Work not necessarily a route out of poverty
• 19 of children whose single parent works
  full-time live in poverty
• 25 of children whose single parent works
  part-time

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Priorities

• Overriding priority balance work and parenting
• Key issues to address
• Childcare
• Income better off in work
• Availability of appropriate jobs flexibility in
  range of jobs and at range of levels
• For some single parents Pre-employment support
• Genuinely tailored approach

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Childcare

• Challenge of both supply and affordability
• Most nurseries are shut after 6pm and dont open
  before 8am. This is no good if you work shift
  patterns, which in todays increasingly 24/7
  society is fast becoming the norm in many
  professions
• I would like a job with more hours but I cant
  find one because there are no childcare
  arrangements for before or after school for my
  eldest two
• Childcares really expensiveWhat Im paying for
  nursery even with working tax credits is
  still a fortune
• Serious question over impact of (likely) reduced
  Universal Credit provision of childcare costs
  support

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Income

• Importance of income
• Its more important for me to be in a job, no
  matter what job it is. I just need to earn money
• Combination of in-work costs (including
  childcare) and low incomes means gains from work
  can be very marginal
• I used to be paying out as much on childcare as
  I earned
• Importance of income now as well as prospects for
  income in the future
• If you pick wrong now that could be the rest of
  your life spoken for

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Jobs

• Perception and reality that
  flexible/part-time jobs equate to lower
  level/lower income
• There is the perception that part time workers
  do not make the same level of contribution and
  add the same value as full time staff because we
  are not there all the time. I think there has
  been some progress with flexible working, but not
  enough
• You should have the option not to dumb down just
  because you want shorter hours
• I have now opted to work on a very low salary
  for the council just because they agreed to give
  me flexible hours and dont make me feel like a
  burden every time I have to take time off for my
  children

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Pre-employment support

• Gingerbread provides pre-employment training to
  single parents who are furthest from labour
  market
• Importance of
• Self-esteem/building confidence
• Familiarisation with workplace
• Developing skills
• Entry-level jobs which can also provide
  opportunities for ongoing training, development
  and progression
• Not just about getting into a job, but retention
  and progression

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Tailored approach

• Difference between theory and practice need for
  consistent approach within job support that takes
  account of LPO rules and flexibilities
• Recent Gingerbread helpline calls
• Caller has just moved onto JSA from IS, has a
  child under 11. She is having difficulty with JCP
  as she wants to restrict to school hours but they
  say that she has to look for work between 9-5,
  five days a week. They have also told her that
  she has to be available to start work within 24
  hours.
• Caller is on IS and has 14 month old child. Her
  LP adviser at the JCP has told her that she has
  to look for work of 16 hours a week and if she
  does not get a job then he can stop her money. He
  says that new legislation is coming in that will
  force her to take any job that he feels she can
  do regardless of hours.

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Conclusions

• Single parents are different need genuinely
  tailored approach to account for different needs,
  circumstances and aspirations
• Overriding priority is to balance work and
  parenting responsibilities
• Money is important! Net gains from work
  especially after childcare costs and particular
  concerns over recent tax credit cut and UC
  proposals
• Need for flexible support and critically
  access to a broader range of flexible jobs

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• I couldnt give up work because Ive worked
  since I left school. I want to work. Its about
  your self-worth