The Single Parent Employment Challenge – job loss and job seeking after the pandemic

A top-down perspective of a formally dressed individual pointing at their laptop screen

The Single Parent Employment Challenge project explored single parents’ experiences of the UK labour market, as we emerged from pandemic restrictions from mid-2021. Focusing on those single parents who experienced unemployment during the pandemic, it looked at the routes that led to them becoming unemployed and to re-enter the workforce, their attitudes to and experiences of job-seeking and back-to-work support, the interaction of work plans and childcare, and the implications of the emerging cost of living crisis.

Completing the move to Universal Credit: Learning from the Discovery Phase

Universal Credit (UC) has streamlined and simplified the benefits system by combining six “legacy”[footnote 1] benefits into a single monthly payment.

By the end of 2018, UC was rolled out to all Jobcentres for new claimants and as of August 2022 there were 4.2m households in payment on UC. However, there remain 2.5m households claiming legacy benefits and tax credits who have yet to move over to UC. Moving those remaining claimants will ensure that the policy goals of UC are fully realised and enable relevant legacy systems to be scaled down or closed entirely.

The NHS budget and how it has changed

Funding for health services in England comes from the Department for Health and Social Care’s budget. Planned spending for the Department of Health and Social Care in England is £180.2 billion in 2022/23. The majority of the Department’s spending (£152.6 billion in 2022/23) is passed to NHS England and NHS Improvement for spending on health services.