APPENDIX 10
Memorandum by Gingerbread
1. This paper explains Gingerbread's reservations
concerning the requirement for lone parent claimants of Income
Support to participate in the Single Work Focused Gateway and
to attend an interview within three days of submitting a claim.
2. We feel this initiative prejudices the New Deal
for Lone Parents, which in our view is more likely to succeed
in encouraging and supporting more lone parents back to work.
If the government insists on requiring lone parents to participate
in the Single Work Focused Gateway, we argue that lone parents
should be able to defer their interview for a minimum of three
months. This is particularly important for new lone parents.
3. Lone parents have special needs because they care
for children. They may need childcare, school hours working and,
after years out of the workforce, many will need training. The
interview should be conducted by a specialist able to offer relevant
advice and support, like the specially trained New Deal for Lone
Parent Advisers.
Introduction
4. It is important that the government takes a long-term
view in its approach to lone parent families and access to work
for lone mothers.
5. The government is working against a background
of several years of anti-lone parent statements and media coverage
which has led to resentment, increased isolation and scepticism
regarding government intentions. This negative stereotyping was
compounded by a fall in living standards and decline in services
for the majority of lone parent families over a similar period.
The design and presentation of initiatives are very important
if these barriers are to be broken down.
The Single Work Focused Gateway and the new deal
for Lone Parents
6. The Single Work Focused Gateway is being introduced
shortly after the national roll out of the New Deal for Lone Parents.
The main advantages of the NDLP initiative are the role and training
of the personal advisers and the fact that it is voluntary. Gingerbread
believes the Single Work Focused Gateway complicates and threatens
the positive development of the NDLP.
7. The Single Work Focused Gateway rests on the concept
that "one size fits all" by promoting a work focused
interview. This appears simple and clear but there are relevant
and quite fundamental differences in concerns and experience between,
for example, a lone mother with sole care of dependent children
and a young unattached man.
8. We are impressed by the commitment of the New
Deal Personal Advisers we have been involved in training and welcome
the level of expertise and information which they are bringing
to the NDLP. We are concerned about the level of expertise the
Personal Adviser of an 'omnibus' service such as the Single Work
Focused Gateway can realistically achieve and therefore about
the quality of service which will be available to lone parents.
9. The NDLP embodies the right approach. Feedback
is increasingly favourable from lone parents. There are a number
of policies which will be implemented shortly and which will combine
to support the NDLP. These are continuing publicity and outreach
work; policies such as the Working Families Tax Credit, Childcare
Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit; wider availability of good quality,
affordable childcare through the Childcare Strategy and more training
and education.
10. The NDLP needs time to develop within an improved
and positive policy framework. This should include more family
friendly employment and policies to actively address important
equal opportunities issues such as job segregation and low pay
amongst women workers.
Compulsion
11. Our second concern relates to the compulsory
element in the Single Work Focused Gateway. The government has
emphasised that the purpose of the interview will be to give information
to lone parent claimants about returning to work. There will be
no compulsion to actually return to work for lone parents. Many
people do not read the detail of government policy and will not
distinguish between compulsion to receive information and to return
to work.
12. Compulsion raises a barrier of suspicion and
fear and reinforces a negative view of government and agencies,
which many lone parents hold because of past experiences. It demoralises
and takes away the power to make decisions from adults, predominantly
women. The voluntary character of the New Deal for Lone Parents,
by contrast, reassures them.
13. It may appear reasonable and clear for lone parents
to attend an interview to listen to information about returning
to work and that 'therefore' the benefit penalty will rarely be
incurred. However, such a penalty could actually be incurred by
the most vulnerable people, especially those who have recently
given birth been separated, divorced or bereaved or fled domestic
violence or child abuse. They may have had to uproot themselves
and their children, change schools, lose contact with friends
and family, become homeless or face problems in accessing suitable
housing. They may be involved in legal proceedings.
14. At this stage, life can be very difficult and
chaotic and attending an interview to listen to information about
work may not seem a priority. On the other hand, the rapid processing
of an Income Support claim is absolutely crucial—a lifeline
in fact.
15. Three days after applying for Income Support
will not be the best time to give lone parents information about
returning to work. Later they may be more receptive and more able
to use the information.
16. We are extremely concerned about the impact of
benefit reductions on the fragile finances of lone parent families,
on morale and on child poverty.
Parenting, Training and Work
17. Lone parents have to balance caring for their
children with providing financially for them. There are many reasons
why they may not want to return to work immediately. This may
be because there are practical issues which take precedence, for
example, housing problems. It may be because of emotional strains
caused by recent bereavement or separation, which has disturbed
either parent or children or both. It maybe because they strongly
believe that the parent of a young child should be a full time
carer. Until recently this was unambiguously the overwhelming
view of society including its official institutions. Some lone
parents may change their views if they see other lone parents
making a successful transition into work without this having a
negative impact on children.
18. However, the responsibility for making the decision
about when and whether to work must remain with the lone parent.
We consider that the compulsory element in the Single Work Focused
Gateway is a worrying step in the direction of undermining this.
19. A greater emphasis is now being placed on lone
parents responsibility finding paid employment. However, Government
policies also place much greater responsibility on the shoulders
of parents. Lone parents prioritise caring for their children.
They need the time to do so effectively.
20. This raises important issues about presentation.
The launch of the Single Work Focused Gateway referred to it as
part of a strategy to end the "something for nothing society".
We hope it will be accepted that this underlines the problems
with the "one size fits all" approach. Such statements
debase the parenting being carried out by lone parents on IS-Parenting
should be valued.
21. It is well established that lone parents frequently
need to access education or training in order to return confidently
to the workforce. Skills and qualifications are important if work
is to be sustained and lone parents become independent of in-work
benefits and significantly improve their quality of life. It is
not clear what role training and education play in the Single
Work Focused Gateway.
22. Both parenting and training are important issues
for lone parents. Work is not always the only or the most productive
focus.
Conclusions
23. The evidence suggests that lone parents do not
need compulsion to find work. Some need time to overcome the immediate
emotional and practical aftermath of separation or they may be
waiting for their children to get older or they may need more
support from the implementation of positive policies and wider
availability of childcare services to overcome barriers to work.
24. Lone parents should be exempted from the requirement
to attend an immediate interview for at least three months.
25. Accessible information should be available for
lone parents making clear the right to deferral of the interview,
to consult independent sources such as Gingerbread or CAB and
to be accompanied at interview by a friend or adviser.
May 1999
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