Research and Statistics

Lone parents cycling between work and benefits

Research Report No. 217

By Martin Evans, Susan Harkness and Ramon Arigoni Ortiz

The report sets out findings from a research study designed to study the phenomenon of lone parents who have repeated claims for out of work benefits accompanied by intervening periods in work. This is sometimes referred to as ‘cycling’. Such a profile has been observed in unemployed/jobseeker benefit populations but to date little attention has so far been paid to how it affects lone parents. The research team, based at the Centre for Analysis of Social Policy at the University of Bath, analysed existing data from the Labour Force Survey and the Families and Children Study.

September 2004 142 pages 297x210mm

ISBN 1 84123 725 6