Press Release

27th January 2003

RAPID CHANGE IN BRITISH FAMILIES

A Policy Studies Institute report published today for the Department for Work and Pensions shows:

• Families are changing: more lone parent families, more cohabiting families and more stepfamilies.
• More families are in work: almost half of lone parents and nearly all couple families with children had at least one full-time job, leading to better standards of living.
• Too few get child support payments: the majority of lone parents and stepfamilies do not regularly receive money from an absent parent.

Families and Children Study : Family Change 1999 to 2001 - a three year study of families and their children shows:

Characteristics of British Families in 2001

• Lone parent families now make up at least a quarter of all families in Britain in 2001. A further 11 per cent of families are stepfamilies.
• Sixteen per cent of couples with dependent children now cohabit rather than marry. Cohabitation is more common among younger parents and those with lower incomes: half of parents under 25 are not married.
• Eleven per cent of low/moderate income couples interviewed in 1999 had separated by 2001. Cohabiting couples were twice as likely to split up than married couples.
• 15 per cent of lone parents in 1999 were with a partner in 2001. Lone parents were more likely to re-partner if they were young, and if they were in work.

Employment Patterns of British Families in 2001

• More than half (54 per cent) of mothers worked full-time (16 or more hours a week), including 42 per cent of mothers with children under five.
• The proportion of lone parents in the Families and Children Study who said they working full-time rose from 38 per cent in 1999 to 46 per cent in 2001. The proportion of mothers in low and moderate-income couple families working full-time rose from 30 per cent to 40 per cent over the same period.
• There remained a large gap between lone parents and couples with children; 54 per cent of lone parent families were workless (that is, had no adult working more than 16 hours a week) compared with only seven per cent of couple families.

Child Support Payments from, and Contact with Non-Resident Parents

• 31 per cent of lone mothers and 37 per cent of stepfamilies received child support payments directly from non-resident parents in 2001.
• Lone parents receiving child support payments were almost twice as likely to be in work compared with those receiving no child support payments (73 per cent compared with 40 per cent).
• Forty two per cent of children with a non-resident parent saw that parent at least once a week. Twenty five per cent of children in lone parent families, and 28 per cent of children in step families had no a contact with their non-resident parent.

Conclusions and implications for policy

• There is evidence of increasing fluidity among British families. The proportion of 'traditional' families' whose parents were married before their children were born and remain together has fallen to about half. Cohabitees are much more likely to split up than married couples, so the growth of cohabitation points to a continued increase in the growth of lone parenthood.
• Mothers' work histories are linked to the development of their family over its 'life course'. Mothers are more likely to work as their children grow older. Lone parenthood can be a major disruption to that life course, although not one that is inevitably damaging to mothers' work prospects. The study shows clearly that Working Families' Tax Credit has encouraged parents to work, but that other factors such as parents' education continue to be important to families' employment prospects and the income they have.
• Child support from non-resident parents is a crucial source of income for some lone parent and step-families, and is strongly linked to mothers' work now that Working Families' Tax Credit is unaffected by child support. But payment of child support by non-resident parents remains low, as does parents' understanding of how child support affects tax credits and benefits. This will remain an important challenge to the Child Support Agency and to wider policy.

One of the authors, Professor Alan Marsh, Deputy Director of the Policy Studies Institute, reflects:

"The increasing movement of parents between households disrupts the flow of income for their children and so presents a challenge to policy. Tax credits have helped a great deal, making work pay while allowing even low paid lone parents to work short hours. The culture among men must now change so that paying child support is normal and admired, not the exception".

Notes to editors

1. 'Family Change 1999 to 2001' by Alan Marsh & Jane Perry, a Department for Work and Pensions Research Report (no. 180) is published today, 27 January 2003, along with another report in the series, 'Working Families' Tax Credit in 2001' by Stephen McKay (DWP Research Report Series no. 181). Two other complimentary reports, 'Work and Childcare' and 'Report on Living Standards and the Children' also by researchers at the Policy Studies Institute are forthcoming. A summary and copy of the reports will be available on the Department for Work and Pensions website: www.dss.gov.uk/asd/asd5

2. The Families and Children Study is a unique combination of annual surveys of representative samples of British families and a longer-term study following a smaller sample of families over time. The study is co-ordinated by the Department for Work and Pensions and funded by a range of government departments including the Inland Revenue. The National Centre for Social Research conducted the fieldwork. The Policy Studies Institute (PSI), and Stephen McKay of Bristol University conducted the analysis

The sample of families with dependent children (aged 16 and under, or 17 - 18 and in full-time education) was drawn from Child Benefit records. In 1999 and 2000 all lone parents and low/moderate-income couples with dependent children were interviewed. In 2001 a representative sample of all families with dependent children were interviewed. A smaller sub-sample of the same lone parent and low/moderate income couples was revisited in every year.

For the 2001 study interviews with about 8,000 families were conducted between September 2001 and February 2002. Main interviews were conducted with the 'mother figure' in the household, with partners interviewed where present and willing to participate.

Further information about the Families and Children Study can be found on the DWP website (www.dss.gov.uk/asd/asd5).

3. Policy Studies Institute is a registered charity and has no association with any political party, pressure group or commercial interest.

4. For further information contact:
- Nelleke van Helfteren, Head of Communications, PSI 020 7468 0468
- Alan Marsh, Author, 020 7468 0468
- Jane Perry, Author, 020 7468 0468