Category

• Emerging Local Practice

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Poverty impact

• Reduction

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Poverty driver

• Increase employment income
• Non-driver - improving quality of life

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Keywords

• Lone Parents
• Flexible Working
• Employability Support
• Priority Groups
• Sustain employment

Aim

The project aims to lift lone parent families out of poverty through employment.

The project aims to overcome barriers that many parents face when trying to find or sustain employment.

Summary

The Lone Parents Poverty and Work Initiative is Fife Gingerbread’s response to tackling child poverty in Scotland, focusing on the Fife area. Lone parents are a priority family group who are at greater risk of poverty. The project focuses specifically on employability, upskilling and transitioning lone parents into flexible employment. This may or may not mean that certain benefits stop when the lone parent begins work, but whatever form the employment takes it must be sustainable and well paid enough to provide a route out of poverty.

What difference does it make?

The project lifts lone parent families out of poverty by helping lone parents to secure flexible employment that meets their needs.

Organisations

Fife Gingerbread

Location

Fife local authority area

Key take-aways

• Fife Gingerbread is working with employers to ‘lone parent proof’ their organisations.
• Flexible working has removed the need for childcare for some parents.
• Fife Council has adapted its application process to give lone parents a guaranteed interview. It has also created ‘lone parent friendly’ jobs in education services e.g., classroom and catering assistant roles.
• Anecdotal suggests that work has improved the mental health of lone parents who have secured employment. Parents have also reported that their standard of living has improved e.g., they are able to afford holidays and better food and Christmas presents.

 

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