Will lone parents go back to work earlier? The new requirement to actively seek work.

Posted on by Liz Sewell

This is the second in our series of blogs on issues that arose out of our Summer Afternoon Seminar.

Lone parents have to actively seek work when their youngest child is five,  and they make up 11% of those on JSA.  The Graph below shows that the majority of parents on JSA have primary school children, and that the younger your child the more likely you are to be on JSA.  Other data shows that once their youngest child is over 12 lone parents are as likely to work as couple parents.

The Government is set to move the age limit down at which parents have to be actively seeking work down to three, bringing in up to 200,000 more parents on to JSA in the 0-4 age range.

Looking at the graph below, that details Lone Parents on JSA by age of youngest child from 2005 to 2015, you can see that whenever the age goes down there is an immediate sharp rise in the number of lone parents on JSA, followed by a steady decrease.  But also that the younger the age of the child the higher the rise and the slower the decrease. (NB the  orange line take in an age range twice as wide as the others so is comparatively higher)

The government has put in place 30 hours of free childcare as a support from 2017 and has added that parents will be able to access extra help from JCP.

What will happen when parents of three and four year olds have to actively seek work?

There are strong positives to parents going back to work earlier: they will be closer to the labour market; their skills will be more relevant; and their incomes should go up, especially after the rise to the living wage and if they can work for longer hours.

Universal credit brings the option of micro jobs, and the right to childcare support from the first hour at 80%. but it also has the added pressure of being under conditionality until your salary is equivalent to  35 hours minimum wage.

Those with one child will find it easiest, but those  with two or more may find juggling nursery and school – especially where the two are not the same, more difficult and there is still no right to holiday care.

Our prediction is that more parents will go back to work, but that there will need to be greater support than is already on offer and that will need to include, more wraparound childcare, better in-work progression and a focus on encouraging employers to make work more flexible.

 

 

A watershed budget that changes the landscape for Lone Parents: Belina Seminar report

Posted on by Liz Sewell

This is the first of a series on blogs on issues that arose out of our Summer Afternoon Seminar

The 2015 Summer Budget was a watershed  that changed the tax and benefits landscape. The first conservative budget in 20 years had a clear ideological approach  over such a wide range of tax and benefit changes that it is exceptionally complicated to work out the difference it will make to each person, as they will be affected in different ways depending on the hours they work, their age, if they live in London, live in social housing, have one, two or more children or use childcare.

On the downside 

Freeze on Tax Credits and Child Benefit
Lower tax credit threshold and higher deduction rates
Lower benefits cap for the unemployed, even lower outside London
Need to be actively seeking work when their youngest child is aged 3.
Two child policy for tax credits and Universal Credit.
Continued conditionality on Universal Credit until they earn the equivalent of 35 hours at the minimum wage.
Loss of family premium on Housing

On the positive side 

£6.50 minimum wage in 2015 rising to a £9.00 living wage in 2020
Higher personal tax thresholds
Possibly lower housing costs if you live in social housing
Free 30 hours childcare for working parents of three and four year olds
Under Universal Credit childcare support starts from 1st hour and at 80%.

Our prediction is that parents will need to 

  • Lone parents will go back to work earlier
  • They will need to work for longer
  • Their opportunities to develop skills before they go back to work will diminish
  • The importance of in work support will increase

 

As Belina predicted, lone parents on Universal Credit will need to look for work when their children turn 3 – Belina Budget Blog

Posted on by Liz Sewell

As Belina predicted in May, Parents with a youngest child aged three or older, including lone parents, who are able to work will be expected to look for work if they are claiming Universal Credit. These parents will receive extra support from Jobcentre Plus. This comes on the back of free 30 hours a week childcare for working families. It looks as if this will impact both lone and couple families and will have a big impact on when mother’s are deemed ready to go back to work.

Working-age benefits, including tax credits and the Local Housing Allowances, will be frozen for 4 years from 2016-17 to 2019-20.

The Benefits Cap has been reduced from 26,000 a year. or £500 a week, to £20,000 a year  £384; In London it will be 23,500 or £452.

Child Tax Credits will be limited to 2 children for new claimants after 2017. Whilst the vast majority of Lone and couple families have one or two children, this will impact larger families.

From April 2016, the level at which a household’s tax credits are withdrawn for every extra pound earned will be reduced from £6,420 to £3,850. For Universal Credit, which is replacing six working age benefits including tax credits, the figures will be £4,764 for those without housing costs and £2,304 for those with  housing costs. State top-ups will also be reduced by larger amounts as people progress in work. As a result of the cuts, 500,000 households will move off tax credits and 300,000 off Universal Credit.

Policy Exchange say a typical renting household with one child, and one adult in work at the current minimum wage, is expected to see their net income rise by 6% in real terms over the Parliament, whereas the same household with no one in work is expected to see their income fall in real terms by 4%.

Launch of www.getreadyforwork.org website reaches over 70,000 through twitter campaign. site reviews here.

Posted on by Liz Sewell

In an a twitter based campaign, we launched the Get Ready for Work Website on 19 June, reaching over 70,000 twitterers  on the first day. Thanks for all the great reviews.

All the very best to Liz Sewell and her new website. Keep up the great work.   Laura Dewar, Policy Campaigner for Single Parents

Great new site: – fantastic resource for parents looking for work AND advisors too! Great work  George Selmer G4S

we love your new website,will share with our parents: Masbro Centre

looks great John-Paul Marks, Transformation & Planning Director, Universal Credit Programme

Take a look at this, from Helping Parents into Work  Fran Parry, W2W Guru 

New Belina’s website for parents looks great brilliant resource for parents looking for work! Gosia Banach Careers & Employment Coach

Good luck today with the launch ! Belina’s new website for parents . Carley Consult

Wishing you every success with your new website . Check it out people! Work in Progress 

Take a look at this, from Helping Parents into Work  Alison Inman, Housing Guru

On the same day we also had the final group session of the Evelyn GRoW programme – see picture above.

UK productivity gap – lone parent employment is part of solution

Posted on by Liz Sewell

Belina’s Summer Afternoon Seminar is looking at how lone parents can help bridge the UK productivity gap you can book on below.

The “jobs miracle’ claimed by the Coalition Government was impressive, but it had one big flaw: the number of people in work did go up, but productivity fell. Here, Liz Sewell, Director of Belina, argues that lone parents could be part of the productivity solution, and that politicians are waking up that fact.

When childcare became part of the bidding war between the parties in the last election, the Tories outbid Labour and promised 30 hours a week free care for the three and four year-olds of working parents.  The reason being, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne had realised that improving childcare is key to involving more skilled women in the workforce and so increasing productivity.

As over 90% of the 2 million lone parents in the UK are women, and around two hundred thousand of them have children in this age bracket, this is one of the biggest potential boosts to lone parent employment in a decade. Not since the treasury under Gordon Brown paid for Sure Start and Working Tax Credits has there been such a positive approach.

This focus on supporting parents makes sense to us at Belina. Although they make up 11% of JSA claimants, lone parents have been moving into work faster than any other group: a 20% increase in Labour market participation in just 20 years. And once their children are in secondary school, lone mothers are as likely to work as couple mothers.

Clearly, the new Government wants to build on this and so lone parents on Income Support must now start preparing for work when their youngest child reaches the age of three. We have first hand evidence that most parents think this is a good idea. On our Get Ready for Work pilot with JobCentre Plus in Lewisham, we offer employability support with childcare on site. In just four weeks over 30 parents have chosen to take part. Our first programme ran in May and we have a waiting list for September.

And there is more coming over the horizon. Universal Credit is now gaining traction, offering the potential for micro-jobs. Improving Parent’s basic skills is part of a Behavioral Insights Team pilot to boost maths and English. And we are expecting an European Social Fund round soon to help lone parents overcome employment barriers.

Welfare cuts are also imminent, to save money and according to Iain Duncan Smith challenge behavior. We know there will be a lower benefits cap and, potentially, cuts to benefits for children.  Both of these will make being on benefits less viable, especially for those living in London.

Here at Belina we have a few more positive suggestions that will cement the change and make sure that Lone Parents can have an even more positive impact:

1.  Access to the 30 hours a week childcare for parents in vocational education and training; this would improve skills and parents with higher qualifications will be more productive.

2. Wrap around childcare, before and after school and in the holidays, would help banish the childcare problem for all women – who remain the main child careers – enabling them to build their careers, in the same way men do.

3. More IT training and better access to free Wi-Fi would help parents to learn, train and find work in the lucrative new tech-savvy job markets

4. Better integration of really flexible working – not just zero-hours contracts – would help employers get the best from parents

5. A shift towards a living wage would put the onus on employers to make work pay, rather than on relying on taxpayers to fund the difference with tax credits.

We believe that lone parents, far from being problem to solve, are part of the solution to rebuilding the UK economy. Helping them get back to work faster and into better paid jobs offers a triple lock towards a prosperous future: for the parent, their children and the UK economy.

Come along to discuss these issues at our Summer Afternoon Seminar, Lone Parents: part of the productivity solution on Wednesday 29 July 2015. Book on here

Belina was highly commended at last year’s ERSA awards for their innovative programmes to support parents

This Blog first went out on the ERSA website: read it here

http://ersa.org.uk/media/blog/lone-parents-are-they-uk’s-secret-productivity-weapon