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My name is Laura and I work as a Parliamentary Officer at the Single
Parent Action Network. I work part-time and I am a parent of two
children, a daughter aged nearly 13 and a son of 10.
I want to make sure that my work reflects the experience of single
parents so I am keen to hear from you. One of my projects is looking at
what it is like for single parents on Job Seekers Allowance and their journey into work. At our
charity we are worried that some single parents are moving into poor
quality jobs, which offer low pay and insecurity and few prospects. I
am really keen to hear from you if you are a single parent who is
currently unemployed and feels under pressure to take any job or who has
moved into poor quality employment.
Many thanks
Laura 
Hi Laura, I totally agree with Nicola37, my son is almost 10 and the childcare stops at 8, I like Nicole37 have no support at all, no family and also feel very pressured to just find a job no matter what the hours etc are. I feel that all I think about is have I done my jobsearch today, have I filled in the book properly. I have been asked to sort out my cv, I havent worked for approx 15 years so my cv is of no relevance to an employer really is it? The biggest issue for me is that I have panic attacks and I am not entirely sure that I can in fact return to work but also dont want to go on the sick as that seems wrong too, my friend always comes with me when I have to sign on and dependant on who I have to see I can either be ok or a wreck when I have been there. I am also told that I may have osteoarthritis which I am in the process of having tests for.
The 13 weeks of school holidays are just so worrying what are we meant to do with our children?
I have also been told that if I continue to sign on then they will send me on 30 hours a week training and it is obligitory, it doesnt matter if you have no childcare if you dont go to the training for the full 30 hours your money is stopped. I worry about that every day.
My daughter is quitting college because of the cuts to EMA so another constant worry there.
My friend and I are now trying to set up a business but again feel really pressured as every meeting has to be reported to the jobcentre although they did provide some usefull information the last time I was there about the new enterprise allowance but that doenst kick in till summer time or just after.
Why will no one listen to us I would love to know if all the MP`S would be happy to leave their young children unattended for hours on end.
Hi Nicola37 and tiredmum,
Thanks for your responses, keep them coming!
Laura does some brilliant work for Single Parent Action Network (SPAN) who run One Space. She will be visiting the boards generally on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, although a little birdie told me she might visit tomorrow.
So come on everyone here is the place to share your worries of the the pressure to take on poor quality work.
Hi Nicola37
I also used to be a civil servant and also took redundancy!
One of the things that I feel strongly about is that single parents must be given better information and advice at Jobcentre Plus. This is something that the Single Parent Action Network are actively campaiging about. It is really useful to hear your story and for me to build up evidence about single parents experience in finding work and dealing with Jobcentres Plus.
In terms of your dealing with the Jobcentre there are a few things you might want to quote back to them! I hope this will not sound too dull.
There are protections in the welfare laws which mean that it is acknowledged that single parents also have caring responsibilities. A single parent like yourself with a child under the age of 16 can limit their working hours to 16 hours a week (if you want to quote the law ask them to look at the Social Security (Lone Parent Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2008 and the Explanatory Regulations 2010.
In fact as your child is under 13 you are also able to limit your working hours to within school hours (Regulation 11 (7) of the Regulations and the Explanatory Regulations).
Traveling 30 miles to work seems along way to ask for you to do to get work. Again there are protections that you should know about. Jobcentre Plus advisers should take into account a single parents caring responsibilies when deciding how far it is reasonable for that parent to travel to work. This includes taking into account the time required to drop a child and pick them up from childcare (if you are lucky enough to find suitable childcare). For this ask them to look at Operational Flexibilities in Explanatory Memorandum to the Job Seekers Allowance (availability for work) Regs 2010.
There are also protections in the law which are aimed at protecting the well-being of children. For instance single parents do not have to accept a job where there is no appropriate or affordable childcare available. Like you I have a 12 year old child and know the difficulty of finding childcare for them. They are so in between being a child and growing up. We know at SPAN of examples of parents being advised to leave their children on their own.
Although there is no actual law that says what age you can leave a child as a parent you are responsible for their well-being until they reach 16. The people who we deal with in Government tell us that single parents should not be advised to leave children home alone. That decision should be for the parent to decide and not an adviser who does not know the child. I would be really interested if you have been told otherwise!
It sounds like you have some really good skills, which you want to make the most of and that you are quite rightly aiming to find work that fits in around your important caring role. That is great and hopefully armed with the above chapter and verse of the law you might to able to show your Jobcentre Plus Adviser that they should be helping you to achieve that.
Thank you for sending in your comments. Please let me know how you get on and apologies about rather boring technical stuff!
Laura
tiredmum
It is good to hear from you. I am sorry that you are having such a difficult time. If you feel you cannot work for medical reasons you might want to discuss this with your GP and see whether you should be on a different form of benefit other than Job Seekers Allowance.
If you are to remain on Job Seekers Allowance it might to useful to see the advice that I have given to Nicola.
You also might want to quote the bits of the law that mean that you can restrict your hours and about protecting the well-being of your child. You should not be advised to leave your son of 10 home alone.
In terms of school holidays a single parent does not have to look for work if there no affordable, appropriate childcare available during school holidays (quote Regulation 11 (8) (a) of the The Social Security Regulations 2008!
Unfortunately there is no set definition of what is affordable and appropriate but would usually involve looking at what proportion of your wages would be spent on childcare.
In terms of compulsory training they should not be telling you that you will need to do this over a thirty hour week as you have caring responsibilities. I think it is worrying that you are being told that you will lose your benefits for not attending training as this would not be practical for you and your child. I know I have found that finding childcare for the odd week can be very difficult to find and also hard for a child to adapt to for such a short time.
I note that you are worried that you are not going to have anything to write on a CV. I know from being a parent myself that looking after them and juggling life requires loads of skills. Do not underestimate the skills that you may have from being at home for 15 years. Ask Jobcentre Plus whether they have training on CV writing specifically for people who have been out of the paid job market for along time.
I know that you are also interested in setting up a business but that the enterprise allowance will not start until the summer. Ask if there is other help that the Jobcentre could offer you with this. Is there someone with skills in their job clubs to offer you help who perhaps could show you the way?
Finally I am sorry that your daughter may quit college because of the cuts to the EMA. Could you or your daughter talk to the college about whether there is any other support that would help her to stay?
Again many thanks for writing. It is really good to hear what is actually happening for single parents so that I can use that evidence when I talk to MPs. I am only sorry that the advice you have had has caused you to worry. I really hope that what I have written might help in some way. Do keep in touch and let me know how things go with the adviser at the Jobcentre.
Laura
Hi everyone
Wow Laura, we are going to sound great when single parents go to Job Centres and start quoting Regulations etc, that will keep them on their toes, also empower us too!
Please do let us know how you get on, especially if you quote regulations, I would love to hear how they respond!
Hi Laura
I just want to hug you!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much for your response, I will write more later, need to go and collect my son from school but wanted to let you know how much you are appreciated xxx
Laura
Hooray, those posts are so fab!!
Hi Laura,
Thank you again for such a comprehensive reply.
I know I could get a sicknote from my GP no problem but I really dont want to do that, panic attacks are so misunderstood and so damn scary, I am not as bad as I used to be but considering I used to be a sales rep who drove thousands of miles a year all over the country it is hard now that I cant leave the boundaries of the place that I live and very often cannot go on my own, the osteoarthritis if thats what it turns out to be I will have as I have now good days and bad, just hope it doesnt develop further. I think I dont want to be further labelled as a scrounger if I were to go on the sick if that makes sense, it is hard enough going to the jobcentre and them saying oh you are a lone parent are you.
Thank you for the advice re my son, there is no childcare here at all, not even unaffordable childcare there simply isnt any and I can see this getting worse for people with younger children too with some sure start centres at risk of closure, problem is the LCC tell the jobcentre there is childcare so we are branded liars, I did challenge this and will continue to do so but they wear you down. I dont sleep the night before having to go and sign on, sometimes they are nice and the next time are truly horrible, I would say they are bullies.
I do have a CV and yes whilst I agree with you entirely about have a wealth of skills realistically no employer will choose me over someone who has recently been made redundant will they? I didnt do anything clerical at school nor domestic science, I did woodwork and metalwork as they interested me far more. I have 11 "O" levels but again no longer have the certificates to prove it unfortunately an ex burned them, along with other quailifications I had such as being able to rebuild a brake on a wagon, I know I have done some strange things ha ha.
I cant go to the job club things as my panic attacks kick in, thankfully the advisor that I see about once every 6 weeks is very understanding and does everything on a one to one basis but what if he leaves, gets moved?
I should be signing on once a week for 6 weeks but they dont have the capacity to do it at the moment but I have been told it will come at some point soon, they did tell me that for the weeks that I had to go in extra they will pay for the petrol costs so I am grateful for that.
The business idea is coming along nicely and at whatever point it is all ready to be up and running then I will take the greatest of pleasure to go in and sign off.
My daughter wanted to do fashion retail at college but as they didnt have sufficient people to run the course she was put onto a business course at level 2, she is flying through the course but hates it and the only thing that kept her there was the EMA, she point blank refuses to go to the college and as she put it join the poor queue, you see EMA is private, you dont have to tell anyone that you receive it as it is paid directly into a bank account. My daughter is entitled to a free meal at college but again refuses to take it up as everyone would know because they have to give their name which is checked on a list. I have no doubt she will leave college very soon as the incentive for her to stay is gone.
Sorry this is soooooooo long but wanted to answer all of you points.
What a fantastic post Laura
Tired Mum
I hope you had a good weekend.
In terms of your panic attacks I don't know what support you have but you might want to look at the 'No more panic' website which offers information and support. As I said in the earlier post it might be that if your panic attacks are very severe that a benefit other than Jobseekers Allowance may be more appropriate for you. Perhaps you could talk to your Adviser about this when you next meet. Incidentally it is really positive that you get on with your Adviser, and try not to jump ahead and worry that they might leave.
Your qualification certificates can be replaced. You probably will need to try and remember which exam boards that you took them with but I would have thought that your school would be able to help you with this.
I am glad your business idea is going well. I see in the news today that David Cameron is launching a new scheme today called Start Up Britain. It is a scheme being run with larger businesses to help get new businesses off the ground. You might want to look into whether your business might to eligible to get help from this scheme.
I terms of your daughter I am sure that a Headteacher or other staff at her college would deal with her request about funding in a confidential way and so there would be no need for other pupils to know about her money circumstances. Although from what you say the particular course she is on may not be the best choice for her.
I hope that this post is useful and really look forward to hearing back from you to know how you are getting on.
Laura
Hi Laura, thank you for your reply, I have looked at the new business thing and will be looking at taking that up.
Fingers crossed the EMA might just be restored in some form awaiting that one.
The jobcentre is this Fri morning so I will let you know what happens there although I have a feeling it will be me counciling the guy who I have to sign on with, long story which I have posted before but could make for a very strange morning on Fri
tiredmum
Lovely to hear from you. All the very best for Friday. Do let me know how you get on.
Laura
Hi Span
Sorry for the delay in replying. Thank you so much for the advice - it isn't boring at all! I had to sign on last week and had a one to one discussion with an advisor. She was helpful but did stress to me that as my son is 12 I am expected to apply for full time jobs. I pointed out to her that all children are different and I don't feel that my son is ready to be alone every day until 5 or 6pm and certainly not from 8am to 5pm during the school holidays. (Unfortunately I hadn't read your reply before I went). She said they would leave it for now but if I am still out of work in a few months I won't be able to avoid applying for full time work. This makes me feel angry and concerned. If I had grandparents or other relatives I would love to work full time but I feel that the stress on me and my son would far outweigh the financial benefits. I also feel that a lot of people just tar all single parents with the same brush and think that we don't want to work and we are happy to just claim all that we possibly can. This is so unfair and so untrue. There may be single parents who don't want to work but there also couples and single childless people who don't want to work but they don't seem to get the same bad press! (Sorry just sounding off - probably PMT,lol!) My income was the largest when I worked full time even though I was paying child care and I would love to be able to return to that but it's just impossible for at least a couple of years. What people don't seem to realise also is that for a single parent work provides a social life and adult interaction. I miss the company more than the money and since losing another job in January I have felt lonely, isolated and lacking in confidence. I think jobcentre advisors should take some of this into consideration when they assume that single parents don't want to work.
Sorry if I'm ranting I just get fed up sometimes of all the prejudice against single parents when the majority of us are trying our best.
Thanks again for your advice and I will certainly make a note of it before my next signing on date.
Nicola
Hear hear Nicola37
I sometimes think that lone parents are an easy target and as for the press stories! words fail me! There is no need for you to go back fulltime, surely, they are being unreasonable. 16 hours a week would be much better and fit in with your son a lot more.
Hi Laura,
Another point that should be raised is that the vast majority of job vacancies that are advertised certainly in my area are working 5 days over 7, this means there is definitely no childcare and for those of us with no family support it becomes virtually impossible to find jobs that we can apply for, I find that I am becoming increasingly demoralised when doing a job search which I do on a daily basis, also there are some jobs that are only 10 hours or the even more frustrating one 15 hours which bars you from working tax credits.
Nicola37
Thank you for your post. As I said in my earlier post there are safeguards which mean that you can restrict your hours. The Adviser should not be putting you in a position that you have to leave your son on his own. You are his parent and you are best placed to know what is best for him, his well-being and safety. Ask him/her straight whether they expect they expect you to leave your son home alone. I would be really interested to hear back the response about restricting your hours and the issue of leaving your son.
It is frustrating that you are not been given the right advice and I will certainly take this up with the senior people who work at the Head Office for Jobcentre Plus and MP's because I do not think you are alone in not being given the full picture of your rights when you are looking for work.
You sound from your post that you want to work and you want to also care for your son. Both are reasonable expectations and the Adviser should be helping you to achieve this. Has your Jobcentre Plus got a lone parent adviser? If you have not had contact with such an adviser it might be good if you could be put in touch as from my understanding they are usually better at knowing about safeguards and childcare.
Do let me know how your next visit to Jobcentre Plus goes. I am very interested to hear their response. Jobcentre Plus are also meant to encouraging employers to advertise more jobs part-time and as job shares. You might want to ask your adviser what efforts they are making with local employees to encourage quality part-time work. All the very best with your job search and with your adviser.
Laura
tiredmum
As I said to Nicola37 Jobcentre Plus are meant to be working with local employees to encourage a broader range of part-time work. You might want to ask your local Jobcentre Plus what they are doing in this respect!
I know that there are quite a number of what are called mini jobs (that is under 16 hours) advertised in Jobcentre Plus. One calculation was that this accounted for a third of all jobs advertised. It is annoying that taking such a job does not fit in with other benefits, such as tax credits. The good news is that in the future this will be addressed with the introduction of the Universal Credit which will stop the 16 hour rule and allow people to take these jobs. The bad news is that this will not happen for a number of years - at least another two and so will not help you in your current circumstances.
It is a real pain that there is not more childcare for atypical hours. This is highlighted in a new report which has been produced by another charity called the Daycare Trust. They are campaigning hard to MP's about this issue and particularly highlight that this is an important barrier for single parents wanting to work (nearly half of all single parents work atypical hours).
All the very best with your Adviser on Friday. Let me know how you get on.
Laura
Hi Laura, Hope you are well, just wondered if you had seen the post from
Hi Laura
I am a single parent and am currently out of work. I was made redundant a year ago from the civil service where I had worked for over 10 years. I have a son who is 12. I have no support to speak of as my only family is my mum and she is quite ill. I found a temp job in October which lasted until January this year but have been out of work again since then. I can only work approx 30 hour per week as I don't feel my son is ready to be on his own after school until 5 or 6 pm if I was full time. When he was younger I worked full time and he went to after school club and then my mum helped out until she became ill. I now feel that he is at an awkward, inbetween age where he is too old for child care but not mature enough to be left alone on a daily basis. I am struggling to find work with hours to fit round school. i am also worried that when I do find a job how I will manage the school hols! I literally have no child care. I do feel pressure from the Jobcentre to find any kind of job and their attitude seems to be that I have to take any job and find a way to sort the child care. When I went to a return to work interview it was suggested to me that as I have a little bit of retail experience I should consider working in Manchester city centre. I live over 30 miles from Manchester and I know that in rush hour traffic the journey can take 2 hours. (Never mind the cost of petrol!) I have lots of skills and experience in admin but am now thinking that I may have to just find any job at any pay as the priority for me is location and hours.