Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgements 9
The Authors 10
Abbreviations 11
Glossary of terms 13
Summary 18
1. Introduction 27
1.1. Background and policy context 27
1.1.1. Lone parents in the UK 27
1.1.2. Lone parents and employment 27
1.1.3. Child poverty in lone parent households 27
1.1.4. Lone Parent Obligations 28
1.1.5. Other contextual changes 29
1.2. Evaluating Lone Parent Obligations 30
1.2.1. Research aims and objectives 31
1.3. Methodology 31
1.3.1. Lone parent customer fieldwork 32
1.3.2. Staff fieldwork 32
1.3.3. Interviewing approach and discussion guides 32
1.3.4. Analysis process 33
1.4. Report structure 33
2. Experiences of lone parents in work 35
2.1. Lone parent customer journeys into work 35
2.2. Looking for work 38
2.3. Types of work lone parent customers move into 39
2.4. Use of childcare when in work 40
2.5. Effects of work on lone parent customers' financial situations 41
2.5.1. The financial transition into work 41
2.5.2. In Work Credit 42
2.5.3. Managing finances once in work 43
2.5.4. Better off in work 44
2.6. Effects of work on lone parent customers and their children 45
2.6.1. Effects of working on lone parent customers 45
2.6.2. Effects of working on children 46
2.7. Summary 47
3. Experiences of Jobseeker's Allowance 49
3.1. Lone parents on JSA in the research 50
3.2. JSA regime for lone parents 50
3.3. Jobcentre Plus operation of the JSA regime for lone parents 51
3.3.1. Staffing models to support lone parents on JSA 51
3.3.2. Specialist versus generalist staff 52
3.3.3. Identification of lone parent customers 52
3.3.4. Staffing capacity 53
3.4. Understanding of the JSA regime 53
3.4.1. Staff understanding of the JSA regime 53
3.4.2. Lone parent customer understanding of the JSA regime 54
3.5. Lone parents' experience of making a JSA claim 55
3.5.1. Lone parent customer journeys to JSA 55
3.5.2. Making a claim for JSA 55
3.6. JSA flexibilities for parents 58
3.6.1. Staff awareness and experience of flexibilities 58
3.6.2. Lone parent customer awareness and experience of flexibilities 59
3.7. Lone parent customers' overall views on the usefulness of Jobcentre Plus support 59
3.8. Job search review appointments 61
3.8.1. Weekly job search review appointments 62
3.8.2. Job search review appointments and mini-jobs 62
3.9. Back to Work Sessions 63
3.10. NDLP and Optional Early Entry to Stage 3 64
3.10.1. New Deal for Lone Parents 65
3.10.2. Optional Early Entry to Stage 3 65
3.11. Experiences of stages 2 and 3 of the JSA regime 66
3.11.1. Week 13 interview 66
3.11.2. Targeted interviews 67
3.11.3. Stage 3 interviews 68
3.11.4. Job referrals 69
3.12. Lone parent customer work search activities 69
3.13. Sanctions and disentitlements within the JSA regime 71
3.13.1. Staff views and experience of disallowance and sanctions for lone parents on JSA 72
3.13.2. Lone parent customer views and experience of sanctions on the JSA regime 74
3.13.3. Re-engagement following disallowance 75
3.13.4. Changes to the JSA sanctions regime 75
3.14. In Work Credit 76
3.15. Childcare to support the JSA regime 76
3.15.1. Staff perspectives on childcare 77
3.15.2. Lone parent customer perspectives on childcare 78
3.16 The effect of the JSA regime on lone parents' attitudes to work 78
3.16.1. Staff views on the JSA regime for lone parents 78
3.16.2. Staff views on lone parents' reactions to JSA 79
3.16.3. Lone parent customers' attitudes to work 80
3.16.4. The effects of the JSA regime on lone parent customers' attitudes to work 81
3.17. Summary 82
4. Experiences of Employment and Support Allowance 84
4.1. Health problems faced by lone parents on ESA 84
4.2. The ESA regime 85
4.3. Lone parent customer understanding of the ESA regime 86
4.4. Making an ESA claim 87
4.5. Work Capability Assessment 89
4.6. Work Related Activity Group 91
4.7. Effects of the ESA regime on lone parents' attitudes to work 92
4.7.1. Lone parent customers' attitudes to work 92
4.7.2. The effect of the ESA regime on customer's attitudes to work 93
4.8. Summary 94
5. Experiences of other destinations 96
5.1. Lone parents who had re-partnered 97
5.2. Lone parents not working and not claiming 97
5.2.1. No longer being eligible to claim benefits 97
5.2.2. Choosing not to claim benefits 98
5.2.3. Being in a transitional phase before claiming JSA 99
5.2.4. Waiting for an appeal for ESA to be re-instated 99
5.3. Lone parents on IB 99
5.4. Summary 100
6. Experiences of remaining on Income Support 101
6.1. Lone parents exempt from their IS eligibility ending 101
6.1.1. Awareness of LPO 102
6.1.2. Lone parent customer journeys 102
6.1.3. Caring responsibilities 103
6.1.4. Attitudes to work 103
6.2. IS lone parents who are not exempt but remained on IS 105
6.2.1. On IS due to personal disabilities or health issues 105
6.2.2. On IS due to transitional protection 106
6.2.3. On IS due to having a baby 107
6.2.4. IS lone parents with a delayed transition 107
6.3. Summary 108
7. Conclusions and recommendations 109
7.1. Effects of LPO on lone parents 109
7.1.1. Lone parent customer journeys and destinations post-LPO 109
7.1.2. The effect of LPO on lone parents' attitudes to work 111
7.1.3. The experience of moving into work 112
7.1.4. Managing finances on benefits and in work 113
7.2. The effectiveness of the JSA regime for lone parents 114
7.2.1. JSA disallowance and sanctioning lone parent customers 115
7.3. The effectiveness of the ESA regime for lone parents 116
7.4. Childcare and its provision to support lone parents into work 117
7.5. Implications of this research for future LPO roll-out 118
Appendix 120
References 131
Table A.1. Comparison of lone parent customer destinations at time of sampling and time of interview 121
Table A.2. Achieved interviews by case study area and destination at time of sampling 122
Table A.3. Gender of lone parents interviewed by lone parent customer type 123
Table A.4. Achieved interviews by lone parent customer type and ethnicity 123
Table A.5. Achieved interviews by lone parent customer type and lone parent customer age group 124
Table A.6. Achieved interviews by lone parent customer type and number of children 124
Table A.7. Achieved interviews by lone parent customer type, and lone parent customer and child's or children's health issue or disability 125
Table A.8. Achieved interviews by lone parent customer type and qualification level 126
Table A.9. Achieved interviews by lone parent customer type and work status 126
Table A.10. Constraints to work 129