In Transit?
Documenting the Lived Experiences of Welfare, Working and Caring for One Parent Families Claiming Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment
In recent years activation measures that aim to promote (re)entry into formal paid employment have become a prominent feature of the policy landscape in Ireland. One specific feature of this turn toward activation is the necessity for those receiving the One Parent Family Payment to transition onto Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment once their youngest child has turned seven. Although Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment has been in place since 2013, little is known about the experiences of those receiving the payment. The In Transit? project sets out to address this knowledge deficit in a way that will benefit new entrants to the scheme.
Project Aims and objectives
This research aims to document people’s lived experiences of transitioning to the Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment; their take up of training and/or work within the parameters of the payment rules; and how they balance their caring and parenting roles with experiences of work and activation while their children are aged between seven and thirteen and move into adolescence. The project will:
- Develop an understanding of how Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment policy is working ‘on the ground’;
- Document the challenges and benefits associated with the payment;
- Develop a toolkit as a resource for new entrants to the payment scheme;
- Generate research data of relevance to One Family and related support and advocacy groups in their work with one parent families and their policy work in terms of the future direction of Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment.
Methodology
The research is based on a mixed methods approach including analysis of secondary data, and qualitative interviews and a focus group with participants who have recently transitioned to Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment and those who have had longer-term experience of the payment. The research will incorporate participatory techniques, which will be designed in conjunction with the project’s civil society partner, One Family.
Outputs
Dukelow, F., Whelan, J. and Scanlon, M. (2024) ‘In Transit? Insights from the lived experience of lone parents claiming Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment’, PublicPolicy.ie February 13, 2024. Jobseeker's_Transitional_Payment.pdf (publicpolicy.ie)
Dukelow, F., Whelan, J. and Scanlon, M. (2023) In Transit? Documenting the lived experiences of welfare, working and caring for one-parent families claiming Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment, Institute for Social Science in the 21st Century) (ISS21), University College Cork. https://doi.org/10.33178/10468/14485
The report was launched by Senator Alice Mary Higgins on 25th May 2023.
In Transit Policy Briefing Paper
Information booklet on Jobseeker's Transitional Payment (JST)
Dukelow, F. (2023) ‘In Transit? Documenting the lived experiences of welfare, working and caring for one parent families claiming Jobseeker's Transitional Payment’ (Guest Piece), Public Interest Law Alliance (PILA) BULLETIN, 7 June 2023 Bulletin | PILA
Funder & Project Dates
This project is funded under the New Foundations 2021 Programme from December 2021-February 2023.
Project Team:
Dr Fiona Dukelow (PI) (School of Applied Social Studies), Dr Joe Whelan (School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin), and Dr Margaret Scanlon (Post-Doctoral Researcher, ISS21) in partnership with One Family.
For further details contact f.dukelow@ucc.ie, JWHELAN9@tcd.ie or m.scanlon@ucc.ie
