Background to the Research

• This report presents the data from a survey of 1,665 female lone parents (excluding widows) in NI. The survey was conducted in the closing months of 1996 and was preceded by a policy and literature review, and focus group exercise. Additionally, a short module of questions on lone parenthood was included in the 1997 NI Omnibus Survey. In total, therefore, the work completed adds up to the most detailed investigation in relation to this group ever undertaken in this part of the United Kingdom.
  

Research Approach

• The methodology adopted was a consequence of the twin objectives of examining the circumstances of the 76% of lone mothers in NI claiming IS or FC and identifying the processes whereby women move into and out of these benefits.
• The two stock samples consisted of women drawn from the IS and FC registers and the two flow samples were made up of lone mothers who had left these registers at some point over the preceding 18 months.
• The samples drawn were of roughly equal numbers and geographically representative.
• The 75-page questionnaire drew heavily on British research to secure comparability and was piloted in April 1996.
• In the main survey 1,665 interviews were completed giving a response rate of 70%.
  

Main Findings

• 82% of lone mothers on IS in NI were subject to at least one major factor likely to inhibit labour market participation. Women on IS were, moreover, twice as likely to be subject to two or more such factors as lone mothers in paid employment claiming FC.
• The data indicate that lone mothers on benefit in NI experience longer periods as lone parents than lone parents generally in Britain.
• Separated women are the largest single group within the lone parent population in NI.
• The great majority (88%) of all of the lone mothers interviewed had been lone parents only once. Only 24% had become lone mothers before reaching the age of 20 and single mothers were less likely to have planned their first pregnancy than other lone mothers.
• Underpinning the benefits system for lone parents is the notion of an escalator with women moving from IS to FC and from there to independence. However, the research indicates that many of these lone mothers were caught in a revolving door rather than moving upwards or forwards.
• Of those lone mothers (724) on IS the majority (77%) had claimed benefit only once. Of those who had made more than one claim the reason cited most frequently (37%) for the most recent claim was that a temporary job had finished.
• Data suggests that the system for the administration of claims works reasonably well for the majority but there is still room for improvement.
• When wages are low, jobs insecure and rents high and rising, lone mothers, who must guarantee a roof over the heads of children, will inevitably be concerned with the hazards of leaving IS and maximum housing benefit.
• The majority wish to work but at the same time many think they ought to care for their children and wish to do so.
• The impact of the incentives within FC and housing benefit in encouraging these lone mothers to take employment outside the home had not been of significance in the move into paid employment.
• The majority (61%) reported no regular contact with former partners although the level of contact between children and absent fathers was slightly higher.
• The data relating to lone mothers with school age children indicate that the proportion having to put childcare arrangements in place rose from 49% during term time to 68% during the school holidays.

Conclusions

• It is recommended that mechanisms be established to monitor rates of entry into and out of lone motherhood in NI.
• The quality of employment available to lone mothers, as well as the provision of supportive services, is an important element to be taken into account in policy making.