Policy | Lone Parents Most Affected by Consistent Poverty, New ESRI Report Shows

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One Family responds to a new ESRI report which was published today that forms part of the research programme for the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Poverty Transitions in Ireland: An Analysis of the Central Statistics Office (CSO) Longitudinal Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), 2004-2015.

The report uses Irish SILC data from 2004-2015 to examine poverty and deprivation transitions among various social risk groups – groups experiencing an increased risk of poverty due to non-class personal or family factors. The social risk groups included in the analysis are lone parents, people with a disability, young adults, children, working-age adults, and older adults (ESRI, 2017).

 

Summary of key results:

  • Lone parents emerge in all the analyses as the group most affected by poverty and deprivation, and the group with the highest risk of deprivation both at a point in time and cross-sectionally. The levels were significantly higher for never-married lone parents (63% for ‘any deprivation’) than for formerly married lone parents (45%).
  • There was a significantly higher rate of both any deprivation (68% vs. 47%) and persistent deprivation (41% vs. 28%) for children of never-married lone parents than for those of formerly married lone parents. This is in keeping with expectations and findings from other research that formerly married lone parents tend to be a more advantaged group in terms of personal resources such as education (Nolan and Watson, 1999).
  • The children of never married lone parents have significantly higher rates than the lone parents themselves, reflecting the higher deprivation rates in larger families of this type.
  • The recession had a greater impact on vulnerable groups such as lone parents because of the barriers they face in labour market participation; their capacity to remain in employment is reduced. Lone parents also have a lower employment rate to begin with and austerity measures disproportionately affect them. Lone parents tend to be more reliant on public services, especially health and housing. Any reduction in services, including increases in waiting periods, disproportionately affects lone parents and is evident in the higher risk of deprivation and poverty.
  • The rate of persistent deprivation was highest for lone parent and their children across this time, with working-age adults affected by disability (and any of their children) the next highest group.

Poverty is understood in terms of having a reduced access to material resources to the extent that the person cannot participate in generally valued activities or have an adequate standard of living. Income poverty and basic deprivation are the two core indicators of poverty in Ireland. Income poverty is a relative measure and involves living in a household with disposable income, after adjusting for household size and composition, below 60 per cent of the median.

Basic deprivation involves being unable to afford certain basic goods and services, such as adequate food, clothing, heating for the home and basic social participation, such as having an evening out or getting together for a meal or drink with family or friends. It is also a relative measure in that it seeks to capture people’s exclusion from access to the goods and services that people usually have in the society.

Implications for Policy

  • It does not make sense to speak of ‘poor’ or ‘deprived’ people as if they are a static group. Instead, income poverty and deprivation are consequences of low market power or barriers to market access which must be addressed by policy.
  • There is clearly a lag between the improvement in the economy based on indicators such as the employment rate, and improvements for those affected by poverty and deprivation. Part of this lag is undoubtedly due to factors such as the erosion of resources and accumulation of debt over the recession. It is also evident, however, that the rate of persistent deprivation is still very high for the most vulnerable groups (lone parent families and those affected by disability) in the recovery period up to 2015. This suggests a need for special supports for these groups to enable them to take advantage of the benefits of economic recovery.
  • Lone parenthood and family size are very important in accounting for the higher deprivation rate of children than of adults. Policies that benefit these families will be most effective in narrowing the income poverty gap between children and adults.

One Family continues to emphasise the need to take affirmative action to alleviate the disproportionate levels of poverty and deprivation being experienced by lone parents. We again call on Government to carefully consider the recommendations contained in our Pre-Budget Submission and a number of other key reports published over the past 12 months including the Indecon Independent Review of the Amendments to the One-parent Family Payment since January 2012, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection report in June on The Position of Lone Parents in Ireland; Maynooth University’s research on the barriers to education for lone parents published in August; and Lone Parents and Activation, What Works and Why: A Review of the International Evidence in the Irish Context, commissioned by the Department of Social Protection and conducted by Dr Michelle Millar and Dr Rosemary Crosse of the UNESCO Child & Family Research Centre in NUI Galway, published last September.

Our most vulnerable families should not have to wait for action any longer.

The ESRI report can be read/downloaded here.

Policy | Update from the Policy Desk

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The One Family Policy Service has been focussed on the Budget 2018 announcement in recent weeks. On 10 October the Minister for Finance, Pascal Donohoe outlined a summary of budgetary measures to be implemented during 2018. You can read a summary of the key changes to social welfare entitlements here. The Budget goes a small way towards supporting lone parents and their children, but more is needed to ensure they are supported into education and work, while acknowledging the hard work they are doing raising their children alone. We were particularly disappointed that there were no meaningful provisions in the Budget to improve access to education for lone parents. Education is the key to lifting lone parent families out of long term poverty and deprivation. Read our post Budget press release here.

We responded to the release of a report by Indecon Economic Consultants commissioned by Government to examine the impact of austerity measures on one-parent families –  ‘Indecon Independent Review of the Amendments to the One-parent Family Payment since January 2012’. There were a number of very concerning findings arising from the report including 43% of parents reporting that their family wellbeing decreased due to the reform and 40% reporting their children’s wellbeing decreased. 63% of the respondents in full-time employment also stated that they cannot afford 3+ items on the deprivation list, meaning that they are most definitely experiencing deprivation daily and in-work poverty. Currently we see parents in precarious, low paid employment and this is not a victory for Government policy, or a signpost to continue unchanged in this direction, as more children in more one-parent families are living in consistent poverty. You can read our full response to this report here.

One Family want to ensure that the Census is inclusive of all family types and reflects the diversity of families in Ireland so we made a submission to the Central Statistics Office on the content of the questionnaire for the 2021 Census.

We attended a conference marking the five year anniversary of the Children’s Referendum on 10 November 2012 which aimed to strengthen children’s rights in the Irish Constitution. Our CEO, Karen Kiernan, highlighted the importance of constitutional protection for all children and not just for children who live in married families.

The results of the Quarterly National Household Survey for Households & Family Units were released by the Central Statistics Office on 19 October.  The results revealed the most recent employment statistics for lone parents. While there have been some marginal increases in employment for lone parents, One Family remain concerned about the quality and sustainability of this employment, particularly in light of the findings arising from the Indecon review. You can read our full summary and analysis of the employment figures here.

Job Vacancy – Social Policy Analyst

One Family is recruiting for an experienced Social Policy Analyst to deliver a Practice to Policy response in line with our Strategic Plan 2016-2018. One Family is at the forefront of policy and research on issues relevant to one-parent families, those sharing parenting and families in transition; and associated areas including education, housing, poverty, family law, employment and others. We are regularly invited to participate in and contribute to expert panels at home and internationally.

Please read the full job description here: Social Policy Analyst November 2017

Application Procedure: 

A cover letter and CV addressing the required competencies should be emailed to Karen Kiernan, CEO, One Family at info@onefamily.ie.

Your application should be marked clearly One Family Social Policy Analyst 

Closing date for applications is 5pm on Thursday 30 November 2017. First and second round interviews will be held on Tuesday 5 December and Friday 8 December 2017 respectively.

 

Policy | Most Recent Employment Figures from CSO

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The Quarterly National Household Survey released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reveals the most recent employment statistics for the period April-June (Q2) 2017. One Family has analysed the findings in relation to people who are parenting alone.

  • In Q2 2017, the employment rate of lone parents (aged 15-64) was 58.5% (up 2.1% from 56.4%). This compares with 73.9 % (up 0.9% from 73.0%) for the adult members of couples without children and 76% (up 3.9% from 72.1%) for the adult members of couples with children.
  • The employment rate of lone parents (aged 15-64) whose youngest child was aged 0 to 5 years was 46.8% (up 0.8% from 46.0%) in Q2 2017 compared to 59.8 % (up 2.6% from 57.2%) where the youngest child was aged 6 to 11, and 65.6% (up 9.2% from 56.4%) where the youngest child was aged 12 to 17. This indicates that, as children get older, the prohibitive costs of childcare are reduced and lone parents are more likely to engage in work.
  • There were 6,400 (down 1,400 from 7,500) lone parents classified as long-term unemployed in Q2 2017, compared to 22,400 (down 12,000 from 34,400) adult members of couples with children classified as long-term unemployed in the same period.
  • On average, 55.3% (up 1.2% from 54.1%) of lone parents were participating in the labour market in Q2 2017. The participation rate of males in couples with children was 87.1% (down  0.7% from 87.8%) while the corresponding participation rate for females was 64.2% (down 0.2% from 64.4%). This dispels the myth that lone parents are not engaging in, and seeking, work outside the home.

One Family remains acutely concerned about the numbers of lone parents in precarious and low-paid employment, particularly since the reform of the One-Parent Family Payment that has pushed many lone parents into employment that has kept them and their children living in poverty.

The Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2015 results released in January 2017 showed that 58% (almost three in five) of lone parent households with one or more children experienced enforced deprivation. This compares to 25% of the general population who experienced deprivation. People in lone parent households continue to have the lowest disposable income out of all households with children in the State.

The Indecon Independent Review of the Amendments to the One-parent Family Payment since January 2012, released last Monday, showed that 63% of the respondents in full-time employment stated that they cannot afford 3+ items on the deprivation list, meaning that they are most definitely experiencing deprivation daily, and in-work poverty.

Further Quarterly National Household Survey information from the CSO is available here.

Policy | Update from the Policy Desk

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Valerie Maher, our Policy & Programmes Manager, writes about some of our recent policy work.

The One Family Policy Service has been focussed on pre Budget preparations over the past few weeks in advance of the Budget 2018 announcement tomorrow, Tuesday October 10th. We are anticipating the release of a report by Indecon Economic Consultants commissioned by Government to examine the impact of austerity measures on one-parent families which you can read more about in our recent press release.

We have written to a number of Government Ministers emphasising the need to take affirmative action in Budget 2018 to alleviate the disproportionate levels of poverty and deprivation being experienced by lone parents and calling on them to carefully consider the recommendations contained in our Pre-Budget Submission and a number of other key reports published over the past 12 months including the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection report in June on The Position of Lone Parents in Ireland; Maynooth University’s research on the barriers to education for lone parents published in August; and Lone Parents and Activation, What Works and Why: A Review of the International Evidence in the Irish Context, commissioned by the Department of Social Protection and conducted by Dr Michelle Millar and Dr Rosemary Crosse of the UNESCO Child & Family Research Centre in NUI Galway, published last September.

One Family has also made a number of important policy submissions during September. We made a submission to the Courts Service on their Strategic Plan 2017-2020, highlighting the challenges facing families accessing the private family law courts. We also had the opportunity to make a submission to the Law Reform Commission on possible areas of law to be considered for inclusion in the new Programme of Law Reform. We specifically addressed the issue of child maintenance, including its underpinning legal framework, and the impact of the current system on separated parents and their children. Our key recommendation is to establish a statutory Child Maintenance Service in Ireland – you can read the submission in full here.

Finally, we have made an informal submission  to the Department of Justice & Equality in relation to the work they are undertaking to regulate the ‘Child’s Views’ Experts as outlined in the Children & Family Relationships Act 2015. One Family are acutely aware of the challenges facing families accessing the private family law courts and the need to ensure that accurate representations of the experiences and wishes of children are captured.

One Family sits on the National Advisory Council on Children and Young People which was set up to ensure the implementation of Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures: The National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014-2020.  The third annual report of the National Advisory Council was recently published. One Family have worked closely with both statutory and non-governmental (NGO) representatives, to ensure that child poverty targets remain at the forefront of Government policy and decision making. Our contributions to a joint NGO submission on reducing child poverty has resulted in an increase in income disregards for lone parents in receipt of One-Parent Family Payment and Jobseeker’s Transition and we will continue to work with Government to ensure they meet their commitment to lift over 100,000 children out of poverty by 2020.

Policy | Update from the Policy Desk

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Valerie Maher, our Policy & Programmes Manager, writes about some of our recent policy work.

The Policy Service has been very busy over the summer. We attended the Social Inclusion Forum in June with a member of our volunteer Policy Panel who is parenting alone. The Forum encourages discussion on social inclusion issues between officials from Government Departments, Community and Voluntary Organisations and people experiencing poverty. In July, we developed our Pre-Budget Submission and attended the Pre-Budget Forum hosted by the Department of Social Protection.This year our submission is focussed on in-work supports, childcare, housing, child poverty, reforming our family law system and access to education.

One Family sits on the National Advisory Council on Children and Young People which was set up to ensure the implementation of Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures: The National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014-2020. From its outset, the Advisory Council identified child poverty as the single biggest concern that impacts on children’s lives. In October 2015, a child poverty subgroup was established comprised of both statutory and non-governmental (NGO) representatives, including One Family. In July this year we officially launched a document on child poverty that puts forward real solutions that can help Government to meet their commitment to lift over 100,000 children out of poverty by 2020 and we issued this press release. You can read more about the work of the Advisory Council in its latest ezine update.

This month, part of the Affordable Childcare Scheme commences. One Family has met with officials in the Department of Children & Youth Affairs (DCYA) to ensure that the new scheme specifically acknowledges the needs of families we work with and represent. We provide information about what childcare supports you may be able to access here, and the Department’s information site is here.

Our askonefamily helpline can also provide information on 1890 66 22 12 / 01 662 9212.