The current government focus on apprenticeships and traineeships has the potential to enhance single parents’ take-up and progression in work.
This is according to the March 2019 report (pdf) from Gingerbread on barriers that inhibit single parents from accessing and progressing in apprenticeships.
The report recommends:
- Government should scrap the existing apprenticeship target measuring apprenticeship starts and introduce more nuanced indicators measuring apprenticeship quality, the availability of part time opportunities and the proportion of external recruits
- Career and skills support should be provided to all single parents who move onto job-seeking benefits, encompassing part-time skills training and support with childcare
- Further work should be undertaken to test and evaluate a range of approaches to incentivise companies to take on single parent apprentices, including subsidising participation, promoting part-time opportunities and other innovative ideas.
