06 May 2008 – Publication of DWP research report 486: 'Families with Children in Britain: Findings From The 2006 Families And Children Study (FACS)'

Research published today by the Department for Work and Pensions explores the characteristics and circumstances of families and children in 2006. The report is based on analysis of the Families and Children Study (FACS). This study began in 1999, with a representative sample of all lone parents and low/moderate-income couple families.  From 2001 a representative sample of lone parents and all couple families with dependent children were interviewed.

FACS provides information about children, their parents and families as a whole across a wide range of subjects.  The first part of the report describes findings on: family characteristics, parental health, education, work, family income, benefits and tax credits, savings, housing, material deprivation and social capital.  The second part of the report describes findings on child characteristics, health, schooling, activities and leisure, maintenance and childcare. 

The report published today is: DWP Research Report No.486 ‘Families with Children in Britain: Findings from the 2006 Families and Children Study (FACS)’ by Anne Conolly and Jane Kerr.

The main findings include the following:

• Around 1 in 6 children (17 per cent) lived in a household where no one worked over 16 hours per week.  Over two-thirds of these lived in lone parent families.
• Lone parent families were more likely to be in the lowest income quintile, compared with couple families. This is reflected in the fact that lone parents were more likely to live in social housing, and were twice as likely to describe their health as ‘not good’. Children living in lone parent families were more likely to have poor health and have a longstanding illness than children living in couple families.
• Four out of five families had at least one parent working 16 or more hours per week. Over half (54 per cent) of lone parents worked 16 or more hours per week and fifty-seven per cent of couple families had both partners doing so. Forty-two per cent of lone parent households were workless compared with five per cent of couple households.
• Four per cent of lone parents and eleven per cent of couple mothers worked 1-15 hours per week. Three quarters (74 per cent) of these said that there was something specific stopping them looking for work of 16 or more hours per week.  In over half (56 per cent) of these cases ‘wanting to be with their children’ was identified as a barrier to work. Fifty-seven per cent of couple mothers reported this as a reason for not working, as did fifty per cent of lone mothers.
• Over a third (35 per cent) of families who worked less than 16 hours per week reported that their money ‘always’, ‘most often’ or ‘more often than not’ ran out by the end of the week or month. Two-fifths of families in the lowest income quintile (41 per cent) and social tenants (40 per cent) reported that their money ran out.
• Over half (55 per cent) of families where at least one child had a non-resident parent had an order or agreement for child support.  Two-thirds (68 per cent) of families with an agreement in place received child support payments. Families that had received payments were more likely to be working, and families with a voluntary agreement were more likely to receive payment on time compared to those with a CSA assessment.
• Over half (54 per cent) of working mothers used childcare (either formal or informal). Mothers were positive about the quality of childcare in their local area, and fewer mothers than in 2005 reported there was ‘not enough childcare’ available (27 per cent). However the proportion of mothers reporting that childcare was ‘not at all affordable’ (24 per cent) remained the same as in 2005.

Background to the research

1. The sample was drawn from Child Benefit records. Interviews with 7,464 families with a total of 12,483 dependent children were conducted in autumn/winter 2006.  Main interviews were conducted with the ‘mother figure’ in the household, with partners interviewed where present and willing to participate. 
2. The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) conducted the fieldwork for the research, and the analysis of FACS contained in this report.
3. ‘Families With Children in Britain: Findings from the 2006 Families and children study (FACS)’ by Anne Conolly and Jane Kerr.  DWP Research Report Series No. 486 is published on 6 May 2008.  A summary and copy of the report is available on the DWP website: http//research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/

 

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