I had an interesting meeting I wanted to tell you about. I had the opportunity to meet with the Minister for Employment and the Secretary of State for Education at 10 Downing Street.
This briefing outlines the barriers parents who are preparing for work can experience when trying to access childcare in England, using evidence from CPAG’s project work.
Potential second earners in couple families, usually mothers, face high barriers to employment. Mothers typically face more barriers to work than fathers in couples, particularly because of issues relating to childcare and time spent out of the labour market due to caring responsibilities. To evaluate barriers to work faced by this group and identify solutions to these barriers, Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) designed and delivered the Your Work Your Way project – an employment support scheme that worked with 70 potential second earners in couples.
It has long been the case that having a second earner can change the risk of a family being in poverty. But it is not easy to take on paid work, and families often face lots of barriers. What are these barriers? What effect do they have on parents’ ability to work? And what role has CPAG’s Your Work Your Way project, with its tailored support approach, had in supporting potential second earners into work?
