SPAN - Single Parents Online Community

Policy and Research

What we do

Since 1990, SPAN has been working in the UK and Europe to improve Government policies that affect one-parent families. We do this by giving a voice to all single parents, but particularly those from diverse cultures and backgrounds living in poverty and isolation.

Involvement of single parents at every level of our policy and research work ensures that participation is at the heart of what we do. the Policy and Research Team works to:

increase understanding of the complex needs of one-parent families and the policies that best support them
empower single parents to have a say
influence national and local policy makers

We do this by:

Carrying out and publish participatory research in partnerships with other NGOs and universities
Delivering training on policy and research to single parents
Responding to government consultations
Lobbying key parliamentarians

POLICY BRIEFINGS

21st Century Welfare - Have your say.

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) have launched a public consultation on welfare reform. They have set out what they think is wrong with the current system and why it needs to be changed. They propose simplifying the system, increasing work incentives and introducing better transition for people moving into work. The consultation runs until the 1st October and contains a list of 12 questions. The proposals will directly impact how support is arranged and so it is important that you have your say. We urge you to respond either directly to the DWP or through SPAN. What is clear from the consultation is that the current system will change and we must inform these changes to take account of the needs of single parents and their children.

How to respond?

1. You can respond online direct to the DWP by using this link

2. Use can read this Easy Read Guide and Summary Document and respond through SPAN, sending your comments as soon as you can to Laura Dewar our Policy & Parliamentary Officer by email L.dewar@spanuk.org.uk

Welfare Reform Bill: Briefing for MP's. Feb 2009

Submission to Paul Gregg Conditionality Review. Oct 2008

Response to the Green Paper "No-one written off" (Jul 08 Cm 7363) Oct 2008

ARTICLES AND PAPERS

The Equality Bill: Since April 2007 all public bodies have had a duty to promote gender equality. They now have to think about equality of opportunity for men and women when they are designing and delivering services, developing policy and offering employment. For single parents who face particular disadvantage this can be a valuable tool in pushing public bodies to address their needs. With this in mind SPAN have responded to the recent consultation on the legislation which proposes combining the gender duty with others that protect other groups such as those that promote race and disability equality. We want to make sure that the gender duty is not diluted in these changes. Please see attached our response to the consultation. If you have any comments then please let us know. You can read the Letter and Pro Forma here.

Single parent families in the 21st century: SPAN's Research and Policy Manager has recently written a paper for a conference on single parents in Switzerland. Please read it here -The State and Single Parent Families.

Flexible, part-time work: SPAN's Parliamentary and Policy Officer has recently written an article on part-time work for Working Mums. Please read it here - Wanted: Organisation prepared to advertise openly for flexible workers.

CURRENT RESEARCH

SPAN is currently undertaking a three-year longitudinal participatory research project exploring the lived experiences of single parents who are moved from Income Support to Job Seekers Allowance, entitled ‘Single Parent Advancement and Learning Opportunities-Participatory Research'. The research is carried out in collaboration with the School of Health and Social Care, University of West of England, and funded by the Big Lottery Fund. SPAN is the lead partner in this project. The two partners share and collaborate on project design, data analysis and the writing of articles and reports.

For further information on this project, please look at the research summary here: Research Summary

RECENT RESEARCH

Participatory One Parent Proofing

Participatory One Parent Proofing (POPP) is a one-of-a-kind three year participatory research project, that has worked closely with single parents across Britain to understand the challenges of parenting alone when trying to get into paid work, and staying in it.

It's no easy task becoming a paid working single parent, and juggling competing demands can be exhausting, rendering employment and career aspirations obsolete. Securing the right skills and family-friendly, sustainable jobs are vital if parents are to really get ahead for their families.

POPP research workshops and training enabled single parents to frame their personal experiences of balancing employment with childcare in a wider policy context, and suggest solutions for change. Their challenges and solutions have informed the development of a handy toolkit for policy-makers and managers of services whose work includes single parents.

Single parents have a right to be listened to, and to influence change in policies and services such as employment, childcare and housing, that affect their everyday lives. POPP is founded on the belief that if policies make sense for single parents that experience them, they are more likely to work.

Parliamentary launch of Findings and Toolkit: Proofed for Parents by Parents research findings and toolkit were launched with great success and popularity in Parliament in November 2007. Parents were delighted to be able to present policy challenges and solutions to a diverse audience of senior Government policy strategists, MPs, welfare to work providers and academics across the family policy field. Their eloquent and insightful presentations can be read here, providing an often very personal account of their challenges to illustrate how vital the new solutions are to single parent employment in Britain. Download parents' presentations from SPAN resources.

Proofed for Parents by Parents: Toolkit. Please see Publications.
Proofed for Parents by Parents: Findings. Please see Publications.

Integrating Children's Perspectives in Policy-making to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion Experienced by Single Parent Families: a Translational Comparative Approach

In 2007 SPAN, in collaboration with Cyprus College, the University of Lincoln, and EKKE, carried out comparative, child-centred research in Greece, Cyprus and two regions of the UK, with the objective of giving a voice to children living in single parent families. The study focused on the experiences and understandings of children living in single parent families.

Throughout Europe the number of children living in one parent families is rising, and these children face a high risk of poverty and social exclusion. This study seeks to rectify a long-standing problem in our knowledge of single parent families, namely that we know very little, if anything, about how these children experience and understand their worlds as members of these families, whether and to what extent they experience poverty and social exclusion.

Family Diversity - A Guide for Teachers. Please see Publications.

Integrating Children's Perspectives in Policy-making to Combat the Poverty and Social Exclusion Experienced by Single Parent Families: a Transnational Comparative Approach.

Please see Publications.

Lone mothers of mixed racial and ethnic children.

SPAN together with Chamion Caballero of London Southbank University have recently collaborated to produce this report. This report draws on case study findings of 10 lone mothers of mixed racial and ethnic children to look at their everyday experiences of raising their children, particularly the ways they seek to give their children a sense of identity and belonging and what support of challenges they face in doing so. The full report can be downloaded HERE.