Improving employability support for single parents and carers in Scotland

Date: 13th May 2021
Category: Child poverty

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One Parent Families Scotland and Oxfam Scotland are calling for a new approach to employability support to help deliver on Scotland’s child poverty targets.

The organisations are calling for five key principles to be embedded in Scottish Government employability programmes: dignity, inclusion and outreach; empowerment; personalisation; holistic support; and the pursuit of “good jobs, not any job”.

The recommendations are based on findings from focus groups, interviews, and an analysis of previous employability programmes. For example:

• Women make up 58% of unpaid carers and 91% of single parents. Having an intersectional and gendered lens should inform Scotland’s employability framework.

• Despite several welcome steps being taken by Scottish Government’s flagship employability programme ‘Fair Start Scotland’, evidence shows some positive elements are not being routinely implemented. Qualitative research has found a reluctance to invest in more intensive interventions owing to the programme’s payment structures.

The report recommends to Scottish Government to continue to use its powers to implement a 10-point framework set out in the report to meet the needs of single parents and carers.

• Read the report on improving employability support for single parents and carers in Scotland here.