Traditional 'breadwinner' families more likely to be in poverty

The two new reports, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and carried out by the IPPR and NatCen, reveal that almost a third of traditional ‘breadwinner’ families are living in poverty.

Families in poverty are referred to as households that have a weekly income of up to £251. Income is calculated as total equalised net disposable income before housing costs.

According to the reports, the majority (40 per cent) of sole breadwinner couples comprise  a man in work and a female partner who stays at home to care for children. Many of the fathers work in routine/manual or intermediate jobs, not attracting high wages.

These families tend to have a youngest child below the age of five and are more likely to be older than other families in poverty, have more children and therefore bigger homes with higher costs.

The report by the IPPR says that for families with pre-school children, the availability of affordable childcare is one of the most important determinants of whether the mother will decide to work.

It goes on to say that the Government’s move to reduce the level of support available to families through the tax credit system is damaging work incentives for mothers in low-income families.

The IPPR concludes by calling for a range of measures to enable more families to have both partners in work. They include:

• A second earner disregard in Universal Credit This would allow partnered mothers in low-income families to keep more of their earnings before means-tested benefits are withdrawn, making it financially rewarding for mothers to work. To pay for this, the taper rate in Universal Credit could be raised from 65 to 67 per cent.
• Expanding the provision of affordable childcare The report says that the ambition should be for a comprehensive offer of affordable childcare for all pre-school children. This could include expanding the free early education places for three- and four-year-olds, or introducing new offers to younger children. The report says that the UK’s mixed model of funding for childcare might need to be rethought, as it is ‘complex, has considerable gaps and may help to push up prices.’
• Making it easier for fathers to spend more time at home-Low-earning fathers with young children could be supported to take more time off work to spend with their families if dedicated paternity, paid at a decent rate, was available for longer periods. As children get older, families would benefit if fathers could work shorter hours, making it easier for mothers to work and for fathers to get involved in family life.

Kayte Lawton, senior research fellow at IPPR and one of the authors of the reports, said, ‘Many fathers work long hours, making it harder for them get involved in family life and more difficult for more mothers in poorer families to work. Childcare enables parents with young children to work, particularly mothers, but remains expensive for many poor families and needs to be made more affordable. Despite some improvements in the jobs market, many mothers can only access poorly paid, part-time jobs because of their childcare responsibilities. Addressing the cost of childcare would enable more mothers to work, boosting household incomes and helping tackle in-work poverty.’

Katie Schmuecker, policy and research manager at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said, ‘The traditional family model where one parent, usually dad, goes out to work and supports his family does not offer a guaranteed route out of poverty in Britain today.

‘Measures like the Living Wage, supporting people to progress into better jobs and ensuring it always pays to work more will all help increase household incomes. So too will helping more families to become dual earning households. This means we have to tackle the barriers that prevent people that want to work from doing so – such as unaffordable childcare, and the lack of financial incentive to work. Otherwise many parents and their children may find themselves trapped in poverty with little prospect of bettering their situation.’

The report by the IPPR, ‘Tackling in-work poverty by supporting dual-earning families’, is written by Kayte Lawton and Spencer Thompson.

The report by Natcen, ‘Poverty, economic status and skills: what are the links?’, is by Matt Barnes and Chris Lord.