SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:7773. 375(166) / BLDSC - British ... more SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:7773. 375(166) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo
London School of Economics and Political Science, Mar 5, 2021
Members of the 'COVID-19 and low-income families: researching together' Special Interest Group of... more Members of the 'COVID-19 and low-income families: researching together' Special Interest Group of the COVID Realities project explain why the government must go further in its provision of financial support for families with children in the light of the coronavirus crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the shortcomings within the UK social security system. The Westminster Government's efforts to temporarily support the social security system through measures such as the £20 weekly uplift to Universal Credit (UC) are welcome and have offset significant hardship. However, they still fall short of making our benefits system fit for purpose. The 2021 Budget, despite pledging to extend the UC £20 uplift for six months until October 2021, will only exacerbate already rising levels of hardship and destitution for families on a low-income. Not extending the uplift for those on legacy benefits, or impacted by the benefit cap, further marginalises those who have been excluded from the uplift since it was first established.
Universal credit (UC) is the UK's single, 'digital by design' working-age benefit, in... more Universal credit (UC) is the UK's single, 'digital by design' working-age benefit, intended to simplify benefits and incentivise work and higher earnings for low-income individuals and couples both in and out of work. In March 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK Government announced an increase of £20 per week in the UC adult standard allowance for both individuals and couples (and the basic allowance of Working Tax Credit). Intended as a temporary measure to mitigate the worst effects of job loss, sickness and reduced household income as a result of the lockdown and pandemic, the £20 uplift was due to end in March 2021. Following intense debate and lobbying in favour of retaining the £20 increase longer term, in the Spring Budget 2021, the Government extended the uplift by six months, until early October 2021, around the same time that the Government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (furlough) was due to end. Research conducted by academics and poli...
Universal Credit is a fundamental reform of means-tested working age benefits in the UK. It aims ... more Universal Credit is a fundamental reform of means-tested working age benefits in the UK. It aims to simplify benefits, reduce administrative costs and fraud and error, increase work entry and encourage higher earnings among low-income people. The first stages of the rollout involved single people, meaning that we know much less about the experiences of couples on Universal Credit – in relation to either issues with a potential impact on all claimants, or those specific to couples. Our three-year, two phase, ESRC-funded longitudinal qualitative research project, entitled <em>Couples balancing work, money and care: Exploring the shifting landscape under Universal Credit</em>, helps to fill that gap. Based on the lived experience of 90 research participants interviewed in 2018/19, 63 of whom were then interviewed again in 2020, the project examined how couples claiming Universal Credit - with and without dependent children, and in and out of employment - made decisions abou...
I am a qualitative research professional with more than 25 year's experience in the design and de... more I am a qualitative research professional with more than 25 year's experience in the design and delivery of social research and evaluation studies gained mainly in the private sector, but after completing a PhD in 2016, also within academia. My research explores themes of individual and intra-household financial management, decision making and distribution; financial insecurity and debt; and partnering and work-care decision making in the context of low and unreliable income. I have been a Research Fellow at the University of Bath's Institute for Policy Research (IPR) since 2018. Between 2018 and 2022, I was co-investigator on an ESRC-funded qualitative, longitudinal, research study exploring work-care and financial decision making in low-income couples. Currently, I am the lead researcher on a follow-on study funded by abrdn Financial Fairness Trust (formerly Standard Life Foundation) which is charting, month to month, how Universal Credit's systems for assessing entitlement, recovering debts and calculating payment, are affecting income insecurity and financial wellbeing among working claimants. Education & qualifications 2016 PhD, University of Bath Thesis entitled 'No love on the dole: the influence of the UK means tested welfare system on partnering and family structure.
Intended to simplify the benefit system and ’make work pay’, Universal Credit (UC) is the UK’s fi... more Intended to simplify the benefit system and ’make work pay’, Universal Credit (UC) is the UK’s first ‘digital by design’ benefit. Proponents of UC highlight the greater efficiency and effectiveness of digitalisation, while critics point to costly IT write-offs and the ‘digital divide’ between people with the skills and resources to access digital technologies, and those without. Less attention has been paid to automation in UC and its effects on the people subject to these rapidly developing technologies. Findings from research exploring couples’ experiences of claiming UC suggest that automated processes for assessing entitlement and calculating payment may be creating additional administrative burdens for some claimants. Rigid design parameters built into UC’s digital architecture may also restrict options for policy reform. The article calls for a broadening of thinking and research about digitalisation in welfare systems to include questions of administrative burden and the wide...
Unemployed and low-income couples entitled to means-tested benefits are known to have higher rate... more Unemployed and low-income couples entitled to means-tested benefits are known to have higher rates of separation and divorce than couples in which one or both partners are in regular, paid work. However, how and why unemployment and benefit receipt increases the risk of partnership dissolution remains the subject of much debate. In recent policy discourse, financial differentials in benefit entitlement between lone and couple parents are said to encourage intact couples to separate. Based on in-depth, face-to-face interviews with a group of low-income mothers who had been partnered prior to claiming lone parent benefits, this paper explores whether benefit entitlement or receipt influenced the decision to separate or divorce. The research found that more salient to partnership dissolution than the amount of benefits a couple may have been entitled to, was who had access to the money, how it was managed and how it was spent. To the extent that welfare systems influence which member o...
Two-parent families with dependent children are known to be at lower risk of poverty and signific... more Two-parent families with dependent children are known to be at lower risk of poverty and significantly less reliant on state financial help than lone-parent households. It might therefore be expected that the factors influencing partnership transitions among low-income women would represent a key area of policy interest. However, driven by concerns about weak work incentives, policy focus and research has to date concentrated on understanding lone parents’ labour supply and encouraging the transition from benefits into employment. Surprisingly little is therefore known about demographic decision making among women reliant on UK means-tested welfare. As part of a wider qualitative study exploring family formation, partnership dissolution and repartnering decisions among low-income mothers, this paper examines whether and to what extent entitlement to welfare benefits or tax credits influenced the decision to live with or apart from a partner or child's father. The research found ...
This report presents findings from the second and final phase of a two part qualitative evaluatio... more This report presents findings from the second and final phase of a two part qualitative evaluation of a series of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) policy measures targeted on lone and couple parents, which aimed to increase parental employment as well as reduce child poverty. Interim findings from the first phase of the research are presented in a separate summary and report. The aim of the evaluation overall was to explore whether the measures offered an adequate package of support to parents, in London and non-London New Deal Plus for Lone Parents (ND+fLP) pilot areas, and if the measures, either collectively or singly, encouraged them to enter and sustain work. This final phase of the research examined the effects of In Work Credit (IWC) and other policy measures on parents’ work-related decision making and behaviours, looking in particular at whether the measures encouraged and supported work entry, work retention and work progression. A related area of investigation explo...
Disabled people of working age have a lower rate of employment and suffer relatively high levels ... more Disabled people of working age have a lower rate of employment and suffer relatively high levels of poverty. In line with welfare reform policy, the Government wishes to increase the numbers of disabled people in work and, in 2006, set an ambitious target of reducing by one million the number of people on incapacity benefits by 2015. Because there is a large overlap between the population of incapacity benefits claimants and those in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) wished to find out more about this group of customers about whom relatively little data exists.
... Extension Rita Griffiths, Stuart Durkin and Alison Mitchell A report of research carried out ... more ... Extension Rita Griffiths, Stuart Durkin and Alison Mitchell A report of research carried out by Insite Research and Consulting on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions Page 2. ... AlisonMitchell is a Senior Research Consultant with Insite Research and Consulting. ...
... In particular, the focus and efforts of college staff were ... three face-to-face interviews ... more ... In particular, the focus and efforts of college staff were ... three face-to-face interviews with DWPpolicy staff ... To facilitate the recollection of key events and to allow sufficient time for the impact of RT to have taken effect, the sample of former customers was restricted to those who had ...
The aim of the evaluation was to explore whether the measures offered an adequate package of supp... more The aim of the evaluation was to explore whether the measures offered an adequate package of support to parents in London and non-London pilot areas, and if the measures, either collectively or singly, encouraged them to enter and sustain work. Couple parents, in a DWP context, include both the parent claiming benefits on behalf of the family (referred to as the ‘main claimant’), and the non-claiming parent (referred to as the ‘partner’). Because of the different conditions on benefit claimants and their partners, each parent in the couple is treated individually within Jobcentre Plus. Given the existing body of research and evidence on lone parents, this research focused on the measures which had been newly expanded to couple parents across all London districts and in ND+fLP pilot areas. IWC of £60, and the UFCC pilot affecting eligible parents in London are addressed in the final report of the research. This report covers early implementation, delivery and operational issues, toge...
is a founding partner of Insite Research and Consulting, an independent research organisation whi... more is a founding partner of Insite Research and Consulting, an independent research organisation which provides research and evaluation services to Government departments, public and third sector bodies operating in the employment and social policy fields. She has over 25 years experience of applied social research and evaluation. xi Glossary Glossary Anticipation effect This includes any impacts a policy has on individuals' actions (in particular, likelihood to claim benefits) prior to the policy changes directly affecting them. Better Off Calculations These are undertaken by Jobcentre Plus staff on behalf of claimants (and their partners) and provide a basic comparison between a claimant's out-of-work benefits and the in-work benefits and tax credits they would receive in employment at a specified wage. They provide a 'snapshot' in time estimate, based on information supplied by the customer, and may differ from the actual circumstances when the customer is in work. Child benefit A universal benefit available to all families with children under the age of 16, or up to 20 if in full-time non-advanced education or certain types of training. The level of payment depends only on the number of children in the family, with a higher payment for the eldest child. It is not income-based. Child poverty There is no single, universally accepted definition of poverty in the United Kingdom. At the time of this research, the Government attached targets to a 'relative low income measure', that is, children living in households where income is 60 per cent below the British median. Child Tax Credit A payment made by the Government for bringing up children. Families with children are normally eligible if their household income is no greater than £58,000. Childcare Assist A payment available to parents, participating in New Deal for Lone Parents (NDLP) and New Deal for Partners (NDP), to help with registered childcare costs in the week prior to starting work. Childcare Partnerships Manager A member of staff appointed to coordinate Jobcentre Plus programmes and strategies with local childcare development plans, working in partnership with local authorities and Children's Centres. Couple Two adults living together as if they were married (regardless of actual marital status). Couple parent Defined by DWP as one of two adults living together as a family with one or more dependent children (regardless of whether they are the birth mother or father of the child or children in question) where one adult is the 'main claimant' and the other the non-claiming partner. xii Glossary Customer Defined by DWP as a person in receipt of financial or other assistance from a DWP benefit, service or programme. Dependent children All children aged 0-15 and those aged 16-18 who are in fulltime education, living in the same family unit. Discovery Events An intensive course developed as part of the original New Deal Plus for Lone Parents (ND+fLP) pilot for lone parents who were not ready to join the NDLP programme designed to help them move closer to the labour market. In April 2008, eligibility was extended to couple parents in ND+fLP pilot areas and across all London Districts. Employment part-time-mini-job A job of less than 16 hours of work per week. Employment-part time A job of 16 to 29 hours of work per week. Employment-full time A job of 30 hours or more of work per week. Research methods Sixty-six parents were interviewed face-to-face in the spring and summer of 2010-43 couple parents and 23 lone parents. Forty-eight parents lived in London and 18 in the West Midlands. In all the lone parent households, and all but two couple households, at least one adult had worked since the extended measures had been introduced, although some had since returned to benefits. Sixteen 1 Lisa Harker (2006) Delivering on Child Poverty: what would it take? A report for DWP. 2 Summary of the couple parents had been interviewed in phase one. Take-up of the pilot measures, other than IWC, had been extremely low among those interviewed. Because of this, much of the focus of the research was, therefore, around IWC. Face-to-face and telephone interviews were also held with Jobcentre Plus staff in the two case study districts. Key findings • The findings from this research suggest that, for the parents sampled, the main achievement of the pilot extension appears to have been in improving the incomes of parents getting IWC, many of whom would have left benefits for work anyway, rather than to have encouraged those who, in the absence of IWC, would not have otherwise done so. There was, however, a small group of parents who were encouraged to leave benefits and enter work because getting IWC helped to reassure them that by moving into low income employment, they would be better off, or at least no worse off, than if they stayed on benefits.
Background Low employment rates among disabled people combined with rising numbers of Incapacity ... more Background Low employment rates among disabled people combined with rising numbers of Incapacity Benefit claimants, have given rise to increasing policy interest in the employment prospects of people with disabilities and serious health conditions. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is conducting a review of its disability employment services including how provision should be structured, funded and delivered in the future. A key area of interest is how effective DWP-funded Residential Training (RT) is at enabling disabled adults to make the transition from benefits into work. Residential Training is an employment programme designed to help long-term unemployed adults with disabilities and serious health conditions who are unable to access suitable local training, to move off benefits into sustained employment or self-employment. Frequently, customers have multiple disadvantages and complex barriers to employment including physical and learning disabilities, mental health conditions and drug and alcohol problems. Programmes last up to 52 weeks and provide vocational training and work-related skills and experience in a supported and specialist residential setting. Each year, around 1,200 people start RT. Approximately two-thirds of RT participants complete their training programme and, of these, around 40 per cent secure employment. Residential Training is delivered by eleven specialist Residential Training Colleges (RTCs). Five RTCs deliver training on a pan-disability basis, five specialise in training for customers with a visual impairment and one specialises in training for people who are hearing impaired. Geographically, the colleges are clustered towards the South, Midlands and East of England; there are no RTCs located in Scotland, Wales or the North West of England. Residential Training contracts are negotiated annually under rolling contracts which are managed centrally though the Residential Training Unit (RTU) based in the Government Office for the North East (GONE). Summary Residential Training is an employment programme designed to help long-term unemployed adults with disabilities and serious health conditions who are unable to access suitable local training, to move off benefits into sustained employment including self-employment. It is intended for people with moderate to severe disabilities or serious health conditions who, on completion of their training, should be considered employable. Frequently, customers have multiple disadvantages and complex barriers to employment. Data supplied by the RTU as presented in their Annual Report 2005/06, details of which are included in the References. 2 An evaluation of RT was carried out in 2000 by UK Research Partnership UK Ltd, 'Evaluation of the effectiveness of Residential Training for disabled people'. DfEE Research Report No. 243. 1.4 Research methods Insite conducted in-depth case studies of all 11 RTCs currently operating nationally. These comprised in-depth, face-to-face interviews with RTC staff including college principals, training managers, course tutors, employment support and pastoral care staff, together with face-to-face interviews with current and former customers of RT. Qualitative, face-to-face interviews were also carried out with Jobcentre Plus staff including DEAs, Specialist Incapacity Benefit Advisers (SIBAs), Incapacity Benefit Personal Advisers (IBPAs) and DWP policy staff 3. A total of 210 stakeholder interviews were carried out, as follows:
SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:7773. 375(166) / BLDSC - British ... more SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:7773. 375(166) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo
London School of Economics and Political Science, Mar 5, 2021
Members of the 'COVID-19 and low-income families: researching together' Special Interest Group of... more Members of the 'COVID-19 and low-income families: researching together' Special Interest Group of the COVID Realities project explain why the government must go further in its provision of financial support for families with children in the light of the coronavirus crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the shortcomings within the UK social security system. The Westminster Government's efforts to temporarily support the social security system through measures such as the £20 weekly uplift to Universal Credit (UC) are welcome and have offset significant hardship. However, they still fall short of making our benefits system fit for purpose. The 2021 Budget, despite pledging to extend the UC £20 uplift for six months until October 2021, will only exacerbate already rising levels of hardship and destitution for families on a low-income. Not extending the uplift for those on legacy benefits, or impacted by the benefit cap, further marginalises those who have been excluded from the uplift since it was first established.
Universal credit (UC) is the UK's single, 'digital by design' working-age benefit, in... more Universal credit (UC) is the UK's single, 'digital by design' working-age benefit, intended to simplify benefits and incentivise work and higher earnings for low-income individuals and couples both in and out of work. In March 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK Government announced an increase of £20 per week in the UC adult standard allowance for both individuals and couples (and the basic allowance of Working Tax Credit). Intended as a temporary measure to mitigate the worst effects of job loss, sickness and reduced household income as a result of the lockdown and pandemic, the £20 uplift was due to end in March 2021. Following intense debate and lobbying in favour of retaining the £20 increase longer term, in the Spring Budget 2021, the Government extended the uplift by six months, until early October 2021, around the same time that the Government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (furlough) was due to end. Research conducted by academics and poli...
Universal Credit is a fundamental reform of means-tested working age benefits in the UK. It aims ... more Universal Credit is a fundamental reform of means-tested working age benefits in the UK. It aims to simplify benefits, reduce administrative costs and fraud and error, increase work entry and encourage higher earnings among low-income people. The first stages of the rollout involved single people, meaning that we know much less about the experiences of couples on Universal Credit – in relation to either issues with a potential impact on all claimants, or those specific to couples. Our three-year, two phase, ESRC-funded longitudinal qualitative research project, entitled <em>Couples balancing work, money and care: Exploring the shifting landscape under Universal Credit</em>, helps to fill that gap. Based on the lived experience of 90 research participants interviewed in 2018/19, 63 of whom were then interviewed again in 2020, the project examined how couples claiming Universal Credit - with and without dependent children, and in and out of employment - made decisions abou...
I am a qualitative research professional with more than 25 year's experience in the design and de... more I am a qualitative research professional with more than 25 year's experience in the design and delivery of social research and evaluation studies gained mainly in the private sector, but after completing a PhD in 2016, also within academia. My research explores themes of individual and intra-household financial management, decision making and distribution; financial insecurity and debt; and partnering and work-care decision making in the context of low and unreliable income. I have been a Research Fellow at the University of Bath's Institute for Policy Research (IPR) since 2018. Between 2018 and 2022, I was co-investigator on an ESRC-funded qualitative, longitudinal, research study exploring work-care and financial decision making in low-income couples. Currently, I am the lead researcher on a follow-on study funded by abrdn Financial Fairness Trust (formerly Standard Life Foundation) which is charting, month to month, how Universal Credit's systems for assessing entitlement, recovering debts and calculating payment, are affecting income insecurity and financial wellbeing among working claimants. Education & qualifications 2016 PhD, University of Bath Thesis entitled 'No love on the dole: the influence of the UK means tested welfare system on partnering and family structure.
Intended to simplify the benefit system and ’make work pay’, Universal Credit (UC) is the UK’s fi... more Intended to simplify the benefit system and ’make work pay’, Universal Credit (UC) is the UK’s first ‘digital by design’ benefit. Proponents of UC highlight the greater efficiency and effectiveness of digitalisation, while critics point to costly IT write-offs and the ‘digital divide’ between people with the skills and resources to access digital technologies, and those without. Less attention has been paid to automation in UC and its effects on the people subject to these rapidly developing technologies. Findings from research exploring couples’ experiences of claiming UC suggest that automated processes for assessing entitlement and calculating payment may be creating additional administrative burdens for some claimants. Rigid design parameters built into UC’s digital architecture may also restrict options for policy reform. The article calls for a broadening of thinking and research about digitalisation in welfare systems to include questions of administrative burden and the wide...
Unemployed and low-income couples entitled to means-tested benefits are known to have higher rate... more Unemployed and low-income couples entitled to means-tested benefits are known to have higher rates of separation and divorce than couples in which one or both partners are in regular, paid work. However, how and why unemployment and benefit receipt increases the risk of partnership dissolution remains the subject of much debate. In recent policy discourse, financial differentials in benefit entitlement between lone and couple parents are said to encourage intact couples to separate. Based on in-depth, face-to-face interviews with a group of low-income mothers who had been partnered prior to claiming lone parent benefits, this paper explores whether benefit entitlement or receipt influenced the decision to separate or divorce. The research found that more salient to partnership dissolution than the amount of benefits a couple may have been entitled to, was who had access to the money, how it was managed and how it was spent. To the extent that welfare systems influence which member o...
Two-parent families with dependent children are known to be at lower risk of poverty and signific... more Two-parent families with dependent children are known to be at lower risk of poverty and significantly less reliant on state financial help than lone-parent households. It might therefore be expected that the factors influencing partnership transitions among low-income women would represent a key area of policy interest. However, driven by concerns about weak work incentives, policy focus and research has to date concentrated on understanding lone parents’ labour supply and encouraging the transition from benefits into employment. Surprisingly little is therefore known about demographic decision making among women reliant on UK means-tested welfare. As part of a wider qualitative study exploring family formation, partnership dissolution and repartnering decisions among low-income mothers, this paper examines whether and to what extent entitlement to welfare benefits or tax credits influenced the decision to live with or apart from a partner or child's father. The research found ...
This report presents findings from the second and final phase of a two part qualitative evaluatio... more This report presents findings from the second and final phase of a two part qualitative evaluation of a series of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) policy measures targeted on lone and couple parents, which aimed to increase parental employment as well as reduce child poverty. Interim findings from the first phase of the research are presented in a separate summary and report. The aim of the evaluation overall was to explore whether the measures offered an adequate package of support to parents, in London and non-London New Deal Plus for Lone Parents (ND+fLP) pilot areas, and if the measures, either collectively or singly, encouraged them to enter and sustain work. This final phase of the research examined the effects of In Work Credit (IWC) and other policy measures on parents’ work-related decision making and behaviours, looking in particular at whether the measures encouraged and supported work entry, work retention and work progression. A related area of investigation explo...
Disabled people of working age have a lower rate of employment and suffer relatively high levels ... more Disabled people of working age have a lower rate of employment and suffer relatively high levels of poverty. In line with welfare reform policy, the Government wishes to increase the numbers of disabled people in work and, in 2006, set an ambitious target of reducing by one million the number of people on incapacity benefits by 2015. Because there is a large overlap between the population of incapacity benefits claimants and those in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) wished to find out more about this group of customers about whom relatively little data exists.
... Extension Rita Griffiths, Stuart Durkin and Alison Mitchell A report of research carried out ... more ... Extension Rita Griffiths, Stuart Durkin and Alison Mitchell A report of research carried out by Insite Research and Consulting on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions Page 2. ... AlisonMitchell is a Senior Research Consultant with Insite Research and Consulting. ...
... In particular, the focus and efforts of college staff were ... three face-to-face interviews ... more ... In particular, the focus and efforts of college staff were ... three face-to-face interviews with DWPpolicy staff ... To facilitate the recollection of key events and to allow sufficient time for the impact of RT to have taken effect, the sample of former customers was restricted to those who had ...
The aim of the evaluation was to explore whether the measures offered an adequate package of supp... more The aim of the evaluation was to explore whether the measures offered an adequate package of support to parents in London and non-London pilot areas, and if the measures, either collectively or singly, encouraged them to enter and sustain work. Couple parents, in a DWP context, include both the parent claiming benefits on behalf of the family (referred to as the ‘main claimant’), and the non-claiming parent (referred to as the ‘partner’). Because of the different conditions on benefit claimants and their partners, each parent in the couple is treated individually within Jobcentre Plus. Given the existing body of research and evidence on lone parents, this research focused on the measures which had been newly expanded to couple parents across all London districts and in ND+fLP pilot areas. IWC of £60, and the UFCC pilot affecting eligible parents in London are addressed in the final report of the research. This report covers early implementation, delivery and operational issues, toge...
is a founding partner of Insite Research and Consulting, an independent research organisation whi... more is a founding partner of Insite Research and Consulting, an independent research organisation which provides research and evaluation services to Government departments, public and third sector bodies operating in the employment and social policy fields. She has over 25 years experience of applied social research and evaluation. xi Glossary Glossary Anticipation effect This includes any impacts a policy has on individuals' actions (in particular, likelihood to claim benefits) prior to the policy changes directly affecting them. Better Off Calculations These are undertaken by Jobcentre Plus staff on behalf of claimants (and their partners) and provide a basic comparison between a claimant's out-of-work benefits and the in-work benefits and tax credits they would receive in employment at a specified wage. They provide a 'snapshot' in time estimate, based on information supplied by the customer, and may differ from the actual circumstances when the customer is in work. Child benefit A universal benefit available to all families with children under the age of 16, or up to 20 if in full-time non-advanced education or certain types of training. The level of payment depends only on the number of children in the family, with a higher payment for the eldest child. It is not income-based. Child poverty There is no single, universally accepted definition of poverty in the United Kingdom. At the time of this research, the Government attached targets to a 'relative low income measure', that is, children living in households where income is 60 per cent below the British median. Child Tax Credit A payment made by the Government for bringing up children. Families with children are normally eligible if their household income is no greater than £58,000. Childcare Assist A payment available to parents, participating in New Deal for Lone Parents (NDLP) and New Deal for Partners (NDP), to help with registered childcare costs in the week prior to starting work. Childcare Partnerships Manager A member of staff appointed to coordinate Jobcentre Plus programmes and strategies with local childcare development plans, working in partnership with local authorities and Children's Centres. Couple Two adults living together as if they were married (regardless of actual marital status). Couple parent Defined by DWP as one of two adults living together as a family with one or more dependent children (regardless of whether they are the birth mother or father of the child or children in question) where one adult is the 'main claimant' and the other the non-claiming partner. xii Glossary Customer Defined by DWP as a person in receipt of financial or other assistance from a DWP benefit, service or programme. Dependent children All children aged 0-15 and those aged 16-18 who are in fulltime education, living in the same family unit. Discovery Events An intensive course developed as part of the original New Deal Plus for Lone Parents (ND+fLP) pilot for lone parents who were not ready to join the NDLP programme designed to help them move closer to the labour market. In April 2008, eligibility was extended to couple parents in ND+fLP pilot areas and across all London Districts. Employment part-time-mini-job A job of less than 16 hours of work per week. Employment-part time A job of 16 to 29 hours of work per week. Employment-full time A job of 30 hours or more of work per week. Research methods Sixty-six parents were interviewed face-to-face in the spring and summer of 2010-43 couple parents and 23 lone parents. Forty-eight parents lived in London and 18 in the West Midlands. In all the lone parent households, and all but two couple households, at least one adult had worked since the extended measures had been introduced, although some had since returned to benefits. Sixteen 1 Lisa Harker (2006) Delivering on Child Poverty: what would it take? A report for DWP. 2 Summary of the couple parents had been interviewed in phase one. Take-up of the pilot measures, other than IWC, had been extremely low among those interviewed. Because of this, much of the focus of the research was, therefore, around IWC. Face-to-face and telephone interviews were also held with Jobcentre Plus staff in the two case study districts. Key findings • The findings from this research suggest that, for the parents sampled, the main achievement of the pilot extension appears to have been in improving the incomes of parents getting IWC, many of whom would have left benefits for work anyway, rather than to have encouraged those who, in the absence of IWC, would not have otherwise done so. There was, however, a small group of parents who were encouraged to leave benefits and enter work because getting IWC helped to reassure them that by moving into low income employment, they would be better off, or at least no worse off, than if they stayed on benefits.
Background Low employment rates among disabled people combined with rising numbers of Incapacity ... more Background Low employment rates among disabled people combined with rising numbers of Incapacity Benefit claimants, have given rise to increasing policy interest in the employment prospects of people with disabilities and serious health conditions. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is conducting a review of its disability employment services including how provision should be structured, funded and delivered in the future. A key area of interest is how effective DWP-funded Residential Training (RT) is at enabling disabled adults to make the transition from benefits into work. Residential Training is an employment programme designed to help long-term unemployed adults with disabilities and serious health conditions who are unable to access suitable local training, to move off benefits into sustained employment or self-employment. Frequently, customers have multiple disadvantages and complex barriers to employment including physical and learning disabilities, mental health conditions and drug and alcohol problems. Programmes last up to 52 weeks and provide vocational training and work-related skills and experience in a supported and specialist residential setting. Each year, around 1,200 people start RT. Approximately two-thirds of RT participants complete their training programme and, of these, around 40 per cent secure employment. Residential Training is delivered by eleven specialist Residential Training Colleges (RTCs). Five RTCs deliver training on a pan-disability basis, five specialise in training for customers with a visual impairment and one specialises in training for people who are hearing impaired. Geographically, the colleges are clustered towards the South, Midlands and East of England; there are no RTCs located in Scotland, Wales or the North West of England. Residential Training contracts are negotiated annually under rolling contracts which are managed centrally though the Residential Training Unit (RTU) based in the Government Office for the North East (GONE). Summary Residential Training is an employment programme designed to help long-term unemployed adults with disabilities and serious health conditions who are unable to access suitable local training, to move off benefits into sustained employment including self-employment. It is intended for people with moderate to severe disabilities or serious health conditions who, on completion of their training, should be considered employable. Frequently, customers have multiple disadvantages and complex barriers to employment. Data supplied by the RTU as presented in their Annual Report 2005/06, details of which are included in the References. 2 An evaluation of RT was carried out in 2000 by UK Research Partnership UK Ltd, 'Evaluation of the effectiveness of Residential Training for disabled people'. DfEE Research Report No. 243. 1.4 Research methods Insite conducted in-depth case studies of all 11 RTCs currently operating nationally. These comprised in-depth, face-to-face interviews with RTC staff including college principals, training managers, course tutors, employment support and pastoral care staff, together with face-to-face interviews with current and former customers of RT. Qualitative, face-to-face interviews were also carried out with Jobcentre Plus staff including DEAs, Specialist Incapacity Benefit Advisers (SIBAs), Incapacity Benefit Personal Advisers (IBPAs) and DWP policy staff 3. A total of 210 stakeholder interviews were carried out, as follows:
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