Single parents face unique challenges in gaining and staying in work since the pandemic, according to charity Gingerbread.
They are almost twice as likely to be unemployed or underemployed, and long-term unemployment – where people are out of work for a year or more – has also increased for single parents.
The charity’s Single Parent Employment Challenge report found that between July and September 2021, 64% of single parents were in employment, compared with 83% of couple parents. Single parents were also twice as likely to be economically inactive (not in employment or looking for a job).
Gingerbread found that single parents’ reasons for leaving work tended to differ to other groups. These included higher rates of compulsory redundancy, the challenges of trying to hold down a job and care for a child or children on their own, reduced hours or the mental health impacts of the pandemic.
Single parents were also more likely to have been furloughed than other workers, or be employed in sectors that were shut down due to the pandemic.
One of the main challenges they faced was a lack of bespoke support from job centres. Compared with parents in couples, they were less likely to have their circumstances taken into account by work coaches.
Single parents sought support in terms of suggesting roles that could fit around caring responsibilities, but were unlikely to get this, the charity found. Similarly, they were less likely to be encouraged to retrain or join a new sector by work coaches.
Childcare costs were a key barrier for single parents trying to re-enter the workplace, Gingerbread said, particularly as pandemic restrictions meant informal childcare from family members was more difficult.
Only a handful of the single parents the charity spoke to said they had been referred to government return to work schemes such as the Job Entry Targeted Support (JETS) and Restart. While their experiences of these schemes was positive, they felt there was a broader lack of awareness of these schemes among single parents.
Laura Dewar, policy and research lead at Gingerbread, said “the high cost of childcare and lack of flexible jobs is preventing far too many single parents after the pandemic”.
“As we come out of the pandemic, it is important that single parents are not left behind – the government must act urgently,” she added.
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“With record numbers of single parents on Universal Credit and the risk of longer-term unemployment, targeted action is needed to support single parents into sustainable employment.”
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