How can parents escape from recurrent poverty?

Abstract

Key points - The main reasons for these households moving into poverty were the birth of a child or a relationship breakdown, combined with a decrease in household income, often due to job loss. - Most parents sought to enter paid employment in order to improve their household finances and emotional well-being. However, in some cases neither improved after getting a job and in others it resulted in entering a low-pay/no-pay cycle. - Parents remained in the low-pay/no-pay cycle due to: +job characteristics, including low pay and the types of work available; +lack of affordable and suitable childcare; +the operation and monetary levels of benefits and tax credits. - These barriers often made work unviable, in many cases forcing parents to leave paid employment and preventing them from re-entering it. Other barriers to escaping the low-pay/no-pay cycle included debt, low confidence and obstacles to accessing education. - Those who had escaped the low-pay/no-pay cycle had obtained full-time jobs paying above the minimum wage, which helped lessen childcare barriers. - The quantitative analysis found that mothers less likely to get work included those who: had no qualifications; had been out of paid employment longer; had more and younger children; and/or were under 19 or over 45 years old. - The researchers concluded that for parents to escape poverty and the low-pay/no-pay cycle, paid employment must improve their financial circumstances, increase their ability to fulfil care responsibilities and enhance parents' and children's well-being. This requires structural changes (e.g. increasing the supply of affordable childcare) and putting effective holistic support in place.