The perspectives of single mothers, long-term unemployed and working-poor people on provisions for Active Inclusion

Kozek, Wieslawa; Kubisa, Julia

doi:10.4337/9781784712181.00020

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…The WP has reported relatively poor job entry outcomes for lone parents – it may be that its payment‐by‐results model, which rewards contractors for job entries, in fact incentivises the “parking” of such vulnerable groups (Lindsay et al, ). Qualitative studies have found that WP services for lone parents are “narrow, focusing predominantly on job search and application processes” (Kozek and Kubisa, , p. 121). For those entering employment, jobs are often characterized by low pay, poor progression opportunities and a lack of long‐term sustainability (Skills Network, ).…”

Section: Context and Research Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Co‐production and social innovation in street‐level employability services: Lessons from services with lone parents in Scotland

Lindsay

Pearson

Batty

et al. 2018

Int Social Security Review

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The United Kingdom, as an exemplar liberal welfare state, has been characterized as in the vanguard of "work-first" activationdeploying high levels of compulsion and standardized employability services that seek to move people from welfare to work as quickly as possible. However, despite the extension of welfare conditionality to excluded groups such as lone parents, government-led, work-first employability programmes have often proved ineffective at assisting the most vulnerable to escape poverty or even just to progress in the labour market. We argue that alternative approaches, defined by co-production and social innovation, have the potential to be more successful. We draw on a study of local services targeting lone parents led by third 33 sector-public sector partnerships in five localities in Scotland. Our research identifies a link between programme governance and management (defined by co-governance and collaborative partnership-working) and co-produced street-level services that deliver benefits in terms of social innovation and employability. We draw on 90 interviews with lone parents, and more than 100 interviews with delivery stakeholders and street-level workers, to identify factors associated with positive social and employability outcomes. The article concludes by identifying potential lessons for the governance and delivery of future services targeting vulnerable groups.2. Throughout this article we have used the term keyworker to refer to street-level workers performing these roles. A variety of terms were used by MIW partnerships to describe these functions including development workers, support workers and keyworkers.Co-production and social innovation in street-level employability services

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Section: Context and Research Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Co‐production and social innovation in street‐level employability services: Lessons from services with lone parents in Scotland

Lindsay

Pearson

Batty

et al. 2018

Int Social Security Review

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“…Considine et al’s () extensive survey work with WP advisers found little evidence of increasingly personalized services. Kozek and Kubisa's (, p. 121) EU‐level analysis concludes that under the UK government's approach to delivering employability for lone parents ‘personalization involves the identification of those closest to the labour market … issues of gaming, creaming and parking may be the outcomes of such systems, and service options are often limited, focusing predominantly on job search and application processes'. Initial evaluations of the WP have suggested that the quality of job outcomes achieved for lone parents has been disappointing, with those who have moved into employment often entering short‐term work followed by a return to claiming benefits (Campbell et al ).…”

Section: Background To the Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Policy‐makers have consistently suggested that increasing conditionality on lone parents has been balanced with the provision of personalized services that are responsive to their particular needs (Kozek and Kubisa ). However, several studies have noted that WP practices and professionals tend not to recognize the implications of being a lone parent (Campbell et al ).…”

Section: Background To the Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lone parents, like other potentially disadvantaged groups, may face complex barriers to work and thus require personalized support (Whitworth ). Yet, while successive waves of welfare reform in the UK since 2001 have increased the conditions placed on lone parents' receipt of benefits, the activation programmes that some are compelled to engage with appear to offer little by way of personalization (Kozek and Kubisa ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Co‐production as a route to employability: Lessons from services with lone parents

Lindsay

Pearson

Batty

et al. 2018

Public Administration

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Policy‐makers claim to support personalized approaches to improving the employability of disadvantaged groups. Yet, in liberal welfare states, mainstream activation programmes targeting these groups often deliver standardized, low‐quality services. Such failures may be related to a governance and management regime that uses tightly defined contracting and performance targets to incentivize (mainly for‐profit) service providers to move people into any job as quickly as possible. This article draws on evidence from third sector/public sector‐led services in Scotland to discuss an alternative approach. These services co‐produced personalized support in partnership with disadvantaged service users (in this case vulnerable lone parents). We suggest that, in this case, street‐level co‐production and personalization were facilitated by co‐governance and co‐management in the design and organization of provision. We conclude by identifying lessons for future employability services.

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“…Second, even though there is a growing body of biographical research on precarity in Poland, it often concerns precarious middle-classes(Haratyk et al 2017;Waniek 2019). This article addresses the need for case studies of people representing the category of lowpaid, low-educated, and low-skilled workers(Kozek, Kubisa, and Zieleńska 2017). Third, as mentioned earlier, the authors felt obliged to share some of the salient categories developed jointly with Fritz Schütze during a PREWORK project workshop in 2018.…”

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confidence: 96%

Biographical Work as a Mechanism of Dealing with Precarity and Precariousness

Burski

Mrozowicki

Drabina-Różewicz

et al. 2022

QSR

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The article aims to explore the relationship between biographical work and the strategies of managing precarity (low-paid and unstable employment) and precariousness (insecurity and instability of life conditions in general) in Poland’s new capitalism. Poland witnessed the rise of precarity during the entire capitalist transformation after 1989, while the expansion of precarious, temporary, and non-standard employment accelerated in the first two decades of the 21st century. The main theoretical framework of the article is based on concepts deriving from biographical sociology and was elaborated during a joint workshop with German biographical researcher, Fritz Schütze, within the PREWORK project. The case of a young female shop assistant, Helena, with a difficult family and work background was selected from a larger sample of 63 biographical narrative interviews with precarious young workers in Poland. Based on the case study and the broader context of the research project, it is argued that biographical work may have the potential for questioning and challenging precarity; yet, without necessary biographical and social resources, such a process is hard to be completed. As a result, the paper questions the macrosocial vision of “precariat” as the “class in-the-making” and instead offers a detailed account of the microsocial ways of dealing with precarity by a representative of the most disadvantaged group of precarious young workers.

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The perspectives of single mothers, long-term unemployed and working-poor people on provisions for Active Inclusion

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Co‐production and social innovation in street‐level employability services: Lessons from services with lone parents in Scotland

Co‐production and social innovation in street‐level employability services: Lessons from services with lone parents in Scotland

Co‐production as a route to employability: Lessons from services with lone parents

Biographical Work as a Mechanism of Dealing with Precarity and Precariousness

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