The influence of UK means tested welfare on family structure Rita Griffiths, PhD Candidate, University of Bath

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 Theoretical frameworks - how welfare may be implicated in family formation and dissolution  Research questions & methodology  Emerging findings & policy implications  Focus on mothers who live apart from a partner or present themselves as living apart

 Financial incentives and disincentives in welfare systems  Couple “penalty” and lone parent “bonus”  Individualisation theories  Living Apart Together  Gendered analyses of welfare  Problematise household means testing and enforced financial dependency  Contested assumptions around income pooling and distribution within households

 Do UK means tested welfare benefits and tax credits discourage two parent families?  How significant are financial incentives and disincentives?  Couple penalties  How significant is the single breadwinner model of welfare?  Household means testing  LTAHAW or ‘cohabitation’ rule  What other factors and influences may affect family formation and dissolution?

 Augment theoretical understanding of family formation and dissolution behaviour in the context of welfare  Widen the evidence base through qualitative empirical research  Help inform welfare policy debates & reform of means tested welfare

 Qualitative research  Unearthing micro-level decision making, underlying mechanisms and processes  Discursive, conversational interviews with mothers who currently or previously claimed benefits or tax credits as a lone parent  Interviews digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim & coded using MaxQDA  Diverse sample - not just poor and disadvantaged lone mothers

 51 face to face interviews  Mothers aged 16-59, living in Merseyside  Between 1 and 5 children, aged between 1 week old and 18 years (at time of claiming)  At the time of the interview  30 never married, 9 divorced, 8 married (of whom 3 separated), 2 widowed  25 had no partner, 13 lived with a partner 13 had partners living elsewhere

Mother’s loss of income & financial autonomy due to household means testing Disincentivises second earners A key deterrent to living together “I’d lose my working tax, my child tax … and we’d have to live on his wage, which is quite low … so we chose to live separately for the meanwhile, until I finish my nurse training….. so I can keep my job now, and then [I’m going to] university, so it means I’m going to have a better paid job in three years and be able to move in together. Miriam, 23, one child aged 18 months Working part-time, claiming HB, WTC & childcare costs as a lone parent “I’d lose my working tax, my child tax … and we’d have to live on his wage, which is quite low … so we chose to live separately for the meanwhile, until I finish my nurse training….. so I can keep my job now, and then [I’m going to] university, so it means I’m going to have a better paid job in three years and be able to move in together. Miriam, 23, one child aged 18 months Working part-time, claiming HB, WTC & childcare costs as a lone parent

Fathers, or partners low or insecure wages a key part of the wider socio- economic context in which the decision to live apart had been made “He’s got his own flat and I’ve got my own house…. We do want to live [together].. but it’s just financially whether his wages can cover everything on his own … because obviously I can’t go to work until [the children] are a little bit older… so financially we can’t manage at the moment. What we’re hoping is that he’ll get a promotion….but it could be another two years we’re looking at before getting together.” Stella, 26, 2 children aged 3 & 1 Claiming IS, HB & CTC as a lone parent Not in paid work “He’s got his own flat and I’ve got my own house…. We do want to live [together].. but it’s just financially whether his wages can cover everything on his own … because obviously I can’t go to work until [the children] are a little bit older… so financially we can’t manage at the moment. What we’re hoping is that he’ll get a promotion….but it could be another two years we’re looking at before getting together.” Stella, 26, 2 children aged 3 & 1 Claiming IS, HB & CTC as a lone parent Not in paid work

Unreliable partner or poor relationship quality Living apart reduces risk of becoming financially dependent on unreliable or unproven partner “We were slowly trying to live together, but he was staying at his Mums … and I said ‘let’s see how it goes with you staying here.’ But.. he’s not good with money… Obviously, with having [our daughter], I couldn’t be like that, I had to make sure the bills were paid, that [my daughter] had everything she needed before anything else. I said to him, ‘I’m not going to move you in and like declare it straight away if..you’re not going to step up to the mark…. we’ve got [the children] to think about ….” Cheryl aged 27, 3 children, 10, 6 & 4 Claiming IS, HB, CTC as a lone parent, not in paid work “We were slowly trying to live together, but he was staying at his Mums … and I said ‘let’s see how it goes with you staying here.’ But.. he’s not good with money… Obviously, with having [our daughter], I couldn’t be like that, I had to make sure the bills were paid, that [my daughter] had everything she needed before anything else. I said to him, ‘I’m not going to move you in and like declare it straight away if..you’re not going to step up to the mark…. we’ve got [the children] to think about ….” Cheryl aged 27, 3 children, 10, 6 & 4 Claiming IS, HB, CTC as a lone parent, not in paid work

RESISTANCE TO BECOMING FINANCIALLY DEPENDENT ON A NEW PARTNER TOO EARLY IN THE RELATIONSHIP “ It’s a little bit like prostitution isn’t it? Because you are there in a relationship that is just starting out and then someone is financially responsible for you and your [children].….. Why? I think this is another thing that would destroy, not build a relationship ” Lorena, 38, two children aged 12 & 2 Claiming HB, WTC & childcare help as a lone parent Graduate, working part-time “ It’s a little bit like prostitution isn’t it? Because you are there in a relationship that is just starting out and then someone is financially responsible for you and your [children].….. Why? I think this is another thing that would destroy, not build a relationship ” Lorena, 38, two children aged 12 & 2 Claiming HB, WTC & childcare help as a lone parent Graduate, working part-time

Resistance to the family becoming financially dependent on a new partner who is not the biological father LTAHAW rule takes no account of different stages or types of cohabiting relationships “ I didn’t feel I was defrauding anybody, although technically I realise I was… I felt that I was right because [my new partner] hadn’t played any part in the children’s lives up to that time.. so it was unfair that we would be considered to be cohabiting in a way that meant he was responsible for providing for me and the children…there’s a huge difference between being a partner and a parent” Nina, 46, three teenage children Claiming HB & WTC as a lone parent Graduate from a middle class background, working part- time “ I didn’t feel I was defrauding anybody, although technically I realise I was… I felt that I was right because [my new partner] hadn’t played any part in the children’s lives up to that time.. so it was unfair that we would be considered to be cohabiting in a way that meant he was responsible for providing for me and the children…there’s a huge difference between being a partner and a parent” Nina, 46, three teenage children Claiming HB & WTC as a lone parent Graduate from a middle class background, working part- time

 Mother’s loss of income & financial autonomy a key driver of behaviour  Behaviour influenced by what is lost by cohabiting not what is gained by becoming a lone mother  Not ‘a lifestyle choice’  A temporary or time-limited arrangement  Designed to mitigate risk and prioritise children’s well-being under conditions of relationship & economic uncertainty

 Household means testing influential and ‘cohabitation rule’ influential in decisions about whether and when to cohabit or re-partner, or disclose a cohabiting relationship  More so than ‘couple penalties’  Through influencing living arrangements & relationship dynamics, welfare can play a role in shaping family structure

 Welfare system not benign  Unintended consequences of welfare rules run counter to stated policy aims of encouraging stable two parent families  Universal Credit will reinforce and exacerbate these effects  Arguing unintended effects may have more policy bite than gender equality perspectives

Any questions?