Policy | Update from the Policy Desk

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.