Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T15:22:28.393Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Activating Lone Parents: An Evidence-Based Policy Appraisal of Welfare-To-Work Reform in Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2011

Tina Haux
Tina Haux*
Affiliation:
School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queen's University Belfast E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The 2008 welfare reform introduced by the previous Labour government requires (most) lone parents with older children to be available for work. This article examines the potential effect of this reform on the employment rate of lone parents and whether the age of the youngest child is a good indicator of ‘ability to work’. It suggests that reform will not lead to the desired increase as the target group is too small and the levels of multiple disadvantages within the group too high. ‘Ability to work’ needs to be conceptualised more broadly if it is to mean ‘ability to get a job’.

Keywords

Lone parentswelfare-to-work activationpolicy-makingBritain
Type
Articles
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 1 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bell, K. (2009) ‘Benefits for single parents: The permanent revolution’, Benefits, 17, 3, 285–8.Google Scholar
Berthoud, R. (2003) Multiple Disadvantage in Employment: A Quantitative Analysis, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, J., Kennedy, S., Kilkey, M., Hutton, S., Corden, A., Earldey, T., Holmes, H. and Neale, J. (1996) The Employment of Lone Parents: A Comparison of Policy in 20 Countries, London: Family Policy Studies Centre and Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Brewer, M., Browne, J. and Sibieta, L. (2010) Child Poverty in the UK since 1998–1999: Lessons from the Past Decade, IFS working paper 10/23, London: IFS.Google Scholar
Carcillo, S. and Grubb, D. (2006) From Inactivity to Work: The Role of Active Labour Market Policies, OECD Social, Employment and Migration working paper no. 36, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) (2010) ‘Lone parents: the move from IS to JSA’, Welfare Rights Bulletin. no 28, London: CPAG.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (2007) Ready for Work: Full Employment in Our Generation, Cm7290, Norwich: Department for Work and Pensions.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (2011) Tabulation Tool, http://Research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/tabtools/index.php?page=tabtool_nd [accessed 15.10.2011].Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions Committee (2008) Alleviating Deprivation, Improving Social Mobility and Eradicating Child Poverty, Second report of the session 2007–8, volume 1, HC 42–1, London: The Stationary Office.Google Scholar
Devins, D. and Hogarth, T. (2005) ‘Employing the unemployed: some case study evidence on the role and practice of employers’, Urban Studies, 42, 2, 245–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finn, D. and Gloster, R. (2010) Lone Parent Obligations: Early Findings of Implementation as well as Experiences of the Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowances Regimes, DWP research report no. 645, Leeds: Department of Work and Pensions.Google Scholar
Gregg, P. (2008) Realising Potential: A Vision for Personalised Conditionality and Support, an independent report to the Department for Work and Pensions, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Gregg, P., Harkness, S. and Smith, S. (2006) Welfare Reform and Lone Parents in the UK, Bristol: University of Bristol.Google Scholar
Treasury, HM (2003) The Green Book: Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government, London: HM Treasury.Google Scholar
Treasury, HM (2010) Budget 2010, HC 61, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Holtermann, S., Brannen, J., Moss, P. and Owen, C. (1999) Lone Parents and the Labour Market: Results from the 1997 Labour Force Survey and Review of Research, Employment Service research report no. 23, Sheffield.Google Scholar
Kennedy, S. (2010) Lone Parents and Jobseeker's Allowance, House of Commons Library paper SN/SP/5532, London: House of Commons.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. (2006) Children, Changing Families and Welfare States, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lister, R. (2006) ‘Children (but not Women) First: New Labour, Child Welfare and Gender’, Critical Social Policy, 26, 2, 315–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKay, S. (2004) ‘Lone parents in London: quantitative analysis of differences in paid work’, DWP in-house report no. 136, Department of Work and Pensions, London.Google Scholar
McKay, S. and Rowlingson, K. (2011) ‘Social security and welfare reform’, in Bochel, H. (ed.), The Conservatives and Social Policy, Bristol: The Policy Press.Google Scholar
McQuaid, R. W. and Lindsay, C. (2002) ‘The ‘employability gap’: long-term unemployment and barriers to work in buoyant labour markets’, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 20, 4, 613–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millar, J. (2001) ‘Work-related activity requirements and labour market programmes for lone parents’, in Millar, J. and Rowlingson, K. (eds.), Lone Parent, Employment and Social Policy: Cross-National Comparisons, Bristol: The Policy Press, pp. 189–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millar, J. and Ridge, T. (2001) Families, Poverty, Work and Care: A Review of the Literature on Lone Parents and Low Income Couple Families with Children, Department for Work and Pensions research report no. 153, Leeds: Centre for Disability Studies.Google Scholar
Nutley, S. and Webb, J. (2000) ‘Evidence and the policy process’, in Davies, H., Nutley, S. and Smith, P. (eds.), What Works: Evidence-Based Policy and Practice In Public Services, Bristol: The Policy Press, pp. 17–35.Google Scholar
O'Connor, W. and Boreham, R. (2002) Investigating Low Labour Market Participation among Lone Parents in London: A Review of the Methods, DWP in-house report no. 104, London: Department for Work and Pensions.Google Scholar
OECD (2007) Babies and Bosses: Reconciling Work and Family Life: A Synthesis of Findings for OECD Countries, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Powell, M. (2002) Welfare State and Welfare Change, Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Sanderson, I. (2002) ‘Evaluation, policy-learning and evidence based policy-making’, Public Administration, 80, 1, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2008) The Social Security (Lone Parents and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2008 (Cm7480), London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Solesbury, W. (2001) Evidence Based Policy: Whence It Came and Where It's Going, UK Centre for Evidence based policy and practice working paper no. 1, http://evidencenetwork.org/cgi-win/enet.exe/biblioview?404 [accessed 27.11.2007].Google Scholar
Thurley, D. (ed.) (2003) Working to target: Can Policies Deliver Paid Work for Seven in Ten Lone Parents?, London: National Council of One Parent Families.Google Scholar