What’s new - Lone Parents and Sustainable Employment

Reflective Blog

Hi there! I’m Louise, the new Project Coordinator for the Lone Parents, Poverty & Work Initiative. I’m really passionate about providing equal opportunities for people and removing barriers to do so. I was a single mother to my son for 6 years I remember how isolated and stuck I felt on my lone parent journey!

During my first few months at Fife Gingerbread, I have been hosting lots of conversations about how I can work with lone parents, families, support workers and employers to bridge the gap between sustainable, well-paid employment and lone parent families.

1 in 4 children are living in poverty in Fife. This statistic should shock you - as a parent, as an employer and as a human. Fife Gingerbread are dedicated to making changes to families in Fife, and within that is ensuring employment can be a meaningful pathway out of poverty.

A perfect place for me to gain parental perspectives of employment was our Fife Gingerbread Parents Forum. The discussion was around the barriers parents face in accessing work and their experiences of trying to get into and stay in good employment.

One parent shared that they had found success in securing a school hour, term-time role as a catering assistant in a local school, which fit in perfectly with the care of their young child, eliminating the need for childcare. However, the parent often receives pressure from their Work Coach to access more hours as they claim Universal Credit.

Other parents shared similar experiences of the pressure they felt under as a recipient of Universal Credit. The discussion was particularly emotive around the inflexibility the “rules” and the immense pressure placed upon families to move into unsupportive and unsustainable employment. Parents had received web links to apply for roles which were out with the school day, unmanageable due to travel and under paid. Parents felt the system was unsupportive, and didn’t seem to offer a whole family approach, particularly where households had children with additional support needs or disabilities.

Of course, there are also other structural barriers impacting lone parents access to work. The lack of flexible, well-paid employment throughout Fife. Childcare, or lack of, was also a large topic of discussion. Aside from the extremely high cost of childcare, parents looking for employment were finding limited childcare options within their areas. Wraparound childcare before and after the school day is extremely hard to secure, with childminders and after school clubs holding limited space and limited locations throughout Fife. Being able to rely on family and friends for childcare is often not secure enough to move into set employment, so rarely becomes part of the solution.

The cycle of Universal Credit and unsustainable employment can sometimes feel unbreakable. How can a parent work 30 hours a week with young children, no childcare and no family support? It feels like an impossible bind which many struggle to break – leaving families disheartened and excluded within their communities.

So, how can we enable families to progress into sustainable, well-paid employment while addressing the barriers of pressure from systems and tackle the major issue of child poverty in Fife?

The Lone Parents, Poverty & Work Project seeks to bring creative solutions to a structural issue. Over the past two years since its inception, the project has developed traineeships as an alternative pathway into employment for lone parents. This model works directly with lone parents to provide training and transition them into paid placements. By creating the right opportunities, we can help families thrive and rise above the poverty line. The successful outcomes speak for themselves, with five parents securing jobs beyond six months and four currently on placement in a care setting with Care Concern Group.

The project also aims to engage with employers about creating lone parent-positive workplaces, advocating for lone parent experiences, and developing best practices that employers in Fife should strive to follow. We have worked with several employers to secure guaranteed interviews for lone parents working with Fife Gingerbread. Nurturing these partnerships can create opportunities for employers to give back to their local community and be part of the solution to child poverty.

The project will also work hard to provide personalised 1:1 support to families, helping them find a job that meets their needs by building relationships and job crafting their ideal job scenarios together. We strive to meet parents where they are, tailoring our approach to individual needs. It's crucial to listen and acknowledge that the current system is not working in a family-centered way.

By bridging the gap between lone parents and sustainable, well-paid employment through our solution-focused project, we can help create a more inclusive and supportive environment for lone parents, enabling them to thrive both personally and professionally. Most importantly, by providing these opportunities, we can work together to make a significant impact on reducing child poverty.