Changes to the benefits system for lone parents have been introduced in recent years, with an increasing focus on work preparation and obligations to look for work. As part of the Lone Parent Obligations (LPO) changes, from November 2008 lone parents with a youngest child aged 12 or over were no longer entitled to receive Income Support (IS) solely on the grounds of being a lone parent. Since then, from October 2010, the age of the youngest child has been reduced to seven and over, and the coalition government announced in the June 2010 Emergency Budget that, subject to passage of the Welfare Reform Bill 2011, these obligations would be extended to lone parents with a youngest child aged five and over from 2012. Lone parents who are no longer eligible for IS have been able to move to other benefits as appropriate, including Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA). The JSA regime has been amended to include flexibilities for lone parents, for example, in the hours of work they are required to seek.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of LPO on lone parents whose youngest child is aged seven or eight.1 It also aims to inform the delivery of the roll-out of LPO to lone parents with a youngest child aged five or six. The findings presented in this report are based on qualitative fieldwork with 60 claimants across three case-study areas. The findings focus on the work readiness of lone parents, their experiences of childcare, reflections on when their youngest child started school, how they look for work, experiences of JSA and of moving into work.
A typology of three broad categories of lone parents interviewed in this research was developed, based on their work and benefits histories: those with a high parenting orientation; those with a strong work attachment; or those who had experienced a critical life event.
