Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:39:14.242Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relationships of Care: Working Lone Mothers, their Children and Employment Sustainability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

JANE MILLAR  and
TESS RIDGE
JANE MILLAR
Affiliation:
Centre for the Analysis of Social Policy, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY email j.i.millar@bath.ac.uk
TESS RIDGE
Affiliation:
Centre for the Analysis of Social Policy, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY email t.m.ridge@bath.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Lone mothers are a key target group for government policies to increase employment participation rates. Employment sustainability is central to achieving this goal and thus it is important to understand the factors that affect sustainability. When the lone mother starts work, her daily life changes in various ways, and so do the lives of her children, and perhaps also other family members who may become involved in childcare, or in other forms of help. These social relationships – at home, in work, in care settings, at school – may be a key element in employment sustainability, and one that has not yet been systematically explored in research. This article draws on data from an ongoing longitudinal qualitative study of lone mothers and their children, which has been following the families from the point that the mothers left income support and started working for at least 16 hours per week. The analysis starts from the assumption that sustaining work over time is a process that actively involves the family as a whole and not just the individual lone mother. In this article we explore how social relationships, inside and outside the family, are central to the ‘family–work project’ of sustaining employment.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 103 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Backett-Milburn, K, Cunningham-Burely, S. and Kramer, D. (2001), Caring and Providing: Lone and Partnered Working Mothers in Scotland, London: Family Policy Studies Centre.Google Scholar
Bancroft, W. (2004), Sustaining: Making the Transition from Welfare to Work, Working Paper Series 04-02, Vancouver, Canada: Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.Google Scholar
Barnes, M., Willitts, M. with colleagues, (2004), Families and Children in Britain: Findings from the 2002 Families and Children Study, DWP Research Report 206, Leeds: Corporate Document Services.Google Scholar
Barnes, M., Lyon, N., Morris, S., Robinson, V. and Yau, L. W. (2005), Family Life in Britain: Findings from the 2003 Families and Children Study, DWP Research Report 250, Leeds: Corporate Document Services.Google Scholar
Bell, A., Finch, N., La Valle, I., Sainsbury, R. and Skinner, C. (2005), A Question of Balance: Lone Parents, Childcare and Work, DWP Research Report 230, Leeds: Corporate Document Services.Google Scholar
Brannen, J., Heptinstall, E. and Bhopal, K. (2000), Connecting Children: Care and Family Life in Later Childhood, London: Routledge Falmer.Google Scholar
Brannen, J. and Moss, P. (eds.) (2003), Rethinking Children's Care, Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Brannen, J., Stratham, J., Mooney, A. and Brockmann, N. (2007), Coming to Care: The Work and Family Lives of Workers Caring for Vulnerable Children, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Cooke, G. and Lawton, K. (2008), Working Out of Poverty: A Study of the Low-paid and the ‘Working Poor’, London: IPPR.Google Scholar
Daycare Trust (2007), Childcare Nation? Progress on the Childcare Strategy and Priorities for the Future, London: Daycare Trust.Google Scholar
Dean, H. (2007), ‘Tipping the balance: the problematic nature of work–life balance in a low-income neighbourhood’, Journal of Social Policy, 36: 4, 519–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) (2007), Children's Plan: Building Brighter Futures, Cm 7280, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2007), Ready for Work: Full Employment in our Generation, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Dorsett, R., Campbell-Barr, V., Hamilton, G., Hoggart, L., Marsh, A., Miller, C., Phillips, J., Ray, K., Riccio, J. A., Rich, S. and Vegeris, S. (2007), Implementation and First Year Impacts of the UK Employment Retention and Advancement Demonstration, DWP Research Report 412, Leeds: Corporate Document Services.Google Scholar
Graham, J., Tennant, R., Huxley, M. and O'Connor, W. (2005), The Role of Work in Low-Income Families with Children – A Longitudinal Qualitative Study, DWP Research Report 245, Leeds: Corporate Document Services.Google Scholar
Grant, L., Yeandle, S. and Buckner, L. (2005), Working Below Potential: Women and Part-time Work, Manchester: Equal Opportunities Commission.Google Scholar
Millar, J. (2006), ‘Better-off in work? Work, security and welfare for lone mothers’, in Glendinning, C. and Kemp, P.. (eds.), Cash and Care: Policy Challenges in the Welfare State, Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 171–86.Google Scholar
Millar, J. (2008a), ‘Making work pay, making tax credits work: an assessment with specific reference to lone-parent employment’, International Social Security Review, 61: 2, 21–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millar, J. (2008b), ‘“Work is good for you”: lone mothers, children, work and well-being’, Third Annual KELA lecture, The Social Insurance Institution, Helsinki, http://www.kela.fi/in/internet/liite.nsf/NET/190508131204EK/$File/Selosteita60_netti.pdf?openElement.Google Scholar
Millar, J., Ridge, T. and Bennett, F. (2006), Part-time Work and Social Security: Increasing the Options, DWP Research Report 351, Leeds: Corporate Document Services.Google Scholar
Office for National Statistics (2007), Focus on Families 2007 Edition, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Office for National Statistics (2008), ‘Lone parents in employment’, www.statistics.gov.uk:80/cci/nugget.asp?id=409, accessed 1 September 2008.Google Scholar
Ray, K., Vegeris, S., Brooks, S., Campbell-Barr, V., Hoggart, L., Mackinnon, K. and Shutes, I. (2007), The Lone Parents Pilots, DWP Research Report No 423, Leeds: Corporate Document Services.Google Scholar
Ridge, T. (2002), Childhood Poverty and Social Exclusion: From a Child's Perspective, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Ridge, T. (2006), ‘Helping out at home: children's contributions to sustaining work and care in lone-mother families’, in Glendinning, C. and Kemp, P.. (eds.), Cash and Care: Policy Challenges in the Welfare State, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Ridge, T. (2007), ‘It's a family affair: low-income children's perspectives on parental work’, Journal of Social Policy, 36: 3, 399–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, E., London, A. and Hurst, A. (2005), ‘Instability in patchworks of child care when moving from welfare to work’, Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 370–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smart, C., Neale, B. and Wade, A. (2001), The Changing Experience of Childhood: Children and Divorce, Oxford: Polity.Google Scholar
Tobío, C. and Trifiletti, R. (2005), ‘Strategies, everyday practices and social change’, in Gerhard, U., Knijn, T. and Weckwert, A. (eds.), Working Mothers in Europe: A Comparison of Policies and Practices, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
TUC Commission on Vulnerable Employment (2008), Hard Work, Hidden Lives, London: Trades Union Congress.Google Scholar
Vincent, C. and Ball, S. J. (2006), Children, Choice and Childcare: Middle-Class Parents and their Children, Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Walsh, I. (2008), Flexible Working: A review of how to extend the right to request flexible working to the parents of older children, London: Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.Google Scholar
Yeandle, S., Bennett, C., Buckner, L., Shipton, L. and Suokas, A. (2006), Who Cares Wins: The Social and Business Benefits of Supporting Working Carers, Sheffield: Sheffield Hallam University and Age Concern.Google Scholar