115 Lone-parent households SIX Lone-parent households1 Lone-parent families have been a recurrent topic of public debate in Britain in the context of significant changes in family structure and the challenges to social policy that such changes pose. Married couples with children fell from 80% of all families in 1990 to 68% in 1997 (Matheson and Babb, 2002, p 43). Over the same period the number of lone parents increased by approximately 50%, from 1.15 million to 1.73 million. Lone-parent households comprise 24% of all families with dependent children in the UK
193 Chapter 19 Lone parents Lone parents are particularly vulnerable to low income. Some important benefits for lone parents have been abolished, reflecting their lack of political support, but there are still different rules for lone parents on the basic means-tested benefits, Housing Benefit and Tax Credits. Other rules reflect the distinctive position of lone parents. Wherever there are specific benefits for lone parents, there has to be a cohabitation rule. Most lone parents become so through family breakdown, and Child Support is also a major issue
147 EIGHT Lone parents and the Conservatives: anything new? Tina Haux Lone parents – still a policy issue The phenomenon of lone parenthood continues to challenge policy makers for three main reasons: the high levels of benefit dependency and poverty and the potentially negative outcomes for children (Bradshaw, 2003). The response of past governments has differed over the past 30 years according to their respective ideological approaches, changes to the characteristics of lone parents, broader economic conditions as well as more general attitudinal changes
Policy makers across the world are confronting issues relating to lone parents and employment, with many governments seeking to increase the participation of lone parents in the labour market.
This book is based on an up-to-date analysis of provisions within particular countries, examining whether and how policies support and encourage employment, and drawing out policy lessons. The countries examined are the UK, USA, Australia, France, the Netherlands and Norway. Unlike other studies which have considered this issue, this book includes both country-specific chapters and makes thematic comparisons across countries. Chapters are written by leading experts on lone parenthood in each country.
Lone parents, employment and social policy is essential reading for students in social policy, sociology, human geography, gender and women’s studies, as well as policy makers and practitioners in the field of lone parents and employment. It will be of interest to those who want to know more about these policy developments but also to those interested in broader issues about gender and welfare states.
211 ELEVEN Making work pay policies for lone parents Majella Kilkey and Jonathan Bradshaw Introduction The purpose of this chapter is twofold. First, to compare recent developments in making work pay policies for lone parents across the six countries featured in this book. Second, to contextualise those changes by reviewing the international comparative literature on the nature and impact of making work pay policies for lone parents. At one level, making work pay strategies entail the manipulation of the tax/benefit system, in such a way as to widen the
87 FIVE Lone parents and employment in Norway Anne Skevik Introduction During the 1990s, a number of changes have taken place in the benefit system for lone parents in Norway. The aim of this chapter is to give an outline of these changes, and to discuss their background in terms of historical developments, demographic changes, and the prevailing discourse on mothers and employment. Since the most important changes were introduced in January 1998 and phased in over a three-year period, it is still too early to give a full review of the consequences of the
61 FOUR Lone parents and employment in Australia1 Peter Whiteford Introduction Over the last 30 years, the number of lone-parent families2 in Australia has trebled from 7.1% of families with children in 1969 to 21.4% in 1999 (ABS, various years). The level of lone parenthood in Australia is thus somewhat lower than in other English-speaking countries or some Nordic countries, but higher than in many countries of continental Europe. Rates of growth of lone parenthood were particularly rapid in the 1970s (10.5% per year on average), slowed in the 1980s (3.4% per
1 ONE Comparing employment policies for lone parents cross-nationally: an introduction Jane Millar and Karen Rowlingson Policy towards lone parents in the UK has undergone significant changes since 1997. In particular, for the first time in the post-war period, the government is offering positive support for lone parents to enter the labour market. A target has now been set to reach a lone-parent employment rate of 70% within 10 years (DfEE, 2001a). This is being implemented through policies that are intended to support and encourage lone parents to take up
169 NINE The social, economic and demographic profile of lone parents Karen Rowlingson Introduction British lone parents are much less likely to be in paid work than their counterparts in other countries. One of the reasons for this is their social and demographic profile: British lone parents are more likely than those in other countries to be young, be never-married, have young children, and have three or more children. All of these factors tend to reduce employment rates for lone parents. But these are not the only reasons for low employment rates of lone
11 TWO Helping British lone parents get and keep paid work1 Alan Marsh Introduction By most international comparisons British lone parents have low rates of labour market participation. Fewer than four out of 10 work full time, which in Britain is 16 hours a week or more, when they qualify for in- work benefits. Britain also has more lone parents than most other countries. About one in four of Britain’s seven million families with dependent children are headed by a lone parent, which is a threefold increase in 25 years. This means that 1.7 million lone-parent
