Ending Child Poverty: What is happening in the UK?

A report from the Center for Impact Research's U.S./UK Welfare Reform Working Group

Self-Responsibility and Activation for Lone Mothers in the United Kingdom

Lone mothers make up a quarter of all families with children in the United Kingdom and have been one of the key target groups for activation policies for the past two decades. In a relatively short period of time, the U.K. system has changed from treating lone mothers as carers to treating them as workers. Most lone mothers are now required to seek work, or to be in work, in order to be eligible for state support. These developments place self-responsibility at the center of welfare reform and paid work as the core of self-responsibility. The focus is very much on the individuals and their labor market obligations and downplays their social obligations, for example, to care for their children or other family members. The capacity to make choices about when and how much to engage in paid work is much reduced. This article explores what these developments have meant for lone mothers in the United Kingdom. The first main section outlines the key policy approaches and measures, highlighting the underpinning concepts of self-responsibility. The discussion also explores the experiences of lone mothers in relation to these policies, drawing on data from a long-term qualitative study. The second main section focuses on a new policy development—the introduction of Universal Credit—in which promoting an employment-based self-responsibility is unequivocally central to the policy aims and design

Families, work and care:Qualitative longitudinal research and policy engagement

Qualitative longitudinal research can make a distinctive contribution to policy discussions and to the assessment of outcomes. This article draws on research with lone-parent families over fifteen years to illustrate how change and continuity can look different over shorter and longer time periods, to discuss presenting longitudinal qualitative evidence through the selection of case studies, and to explore some of the challenges of engaging in policy debates with qualitative data.</p

Giving back control? A contradiction at the heart of Universal Credit

As Damian Green arrives as Secretary of State in the Department for Work and Pensions, Universal Credit must be at the top of the long list of issues he faces – and the decisions he takes will have a major impact on many of the ‘ordinary working class’ families that Theresa May has promised will be the focus of her government. Jane Millar and Fran Bennett explain that, although the new system is supposed to make things simpler, for many it will actually make things more complicated

Evolution des politiques sociales en direction des familles monoparentales en Europe

Rapport de recherche publié par la Caisse nationale des allocations familialesCe rapport propose une comparaison des politiques sociales en direction des ménages monoparentaux en Europe et analyse en particulier les politiques d'activation des dépenses (welfare to work) dont ces parents font l'obje

Timing it right or timing it wrong: How should income-tested benefits deal with changes in circumstances?

This article examines the challenges in designing income-tested benefits for people of working age. This is particularly difficult in the context of changing patterns of work and volatility in earnings and income. Matching benefits to needs requires timely assessment and payment. We compare the treatment of timing issues in the working-age welfare systems of the United Kingdom and Australia. The article discusses how these different but similar systems deal with the timing of income receipt and benefit adjustment, problems of overpayment and debt, and draws out some lessons for the design of income-tested provisions