Just Coping: A new perspective on low-income families

• Context
• The study
• Key findings
• Points to consider

Context

This research came about from a realisation by a group of Kent County Council (KCC) stakeholders that although more needed to be done to support low-income families in the area, there was no consensus on what that support should look like, and only a patchy understanding of how the world looks and feels from the perspective of the families themselves. The team decided to focus in particular on families who might be best characterised as ‘just coping’ or ‘breadline’ families. These are not the families who have experienced total breakdown; they are those families living on often distressingly low incomes, but nevertheless coping with limited intervention from government agencies.

The report includes an outline of the policy context and some analysis around the key themes – family policy and approaches to policy; a descriptive section introducing the families; and a set of proposals and recommendations for what KCC could do next to support these families and improve the life chances of the parents and children alike.

The study

The study comprised a literature and evidence collection of a broad range of contemporary literature on this area, followed by ethnographic research with eight families living in Kent, conducted by trained anthropologists. There was also a phase of stakeholder shadowing which involved all members of the project team spending time with various stakeholders from frontline social workers to Sure Start staff and prison officers during their working hours.

Following the fieldwork, the project team participated in an intensive, two-day ideas generation workshop, using stories from the families to work on outcomes from the project.

The project was commissioned by the Social Innovation Lab for Kent, a small team based within Kent County Council set up in 2007 to ‘do policy differently’. It was co-developed with service design consultancy Engine Service Design.

Key findings

The study generated two main outputs, as follows:

1. A set of ‘opportunities’ – ways in which KCC and its partners might work differently to support families better
2. A set of ‘system challenges’ – those issues where it is the policy framework itself, rather than any implementation failure, that is the problem.

Opportunities included the following:

• Provide all families with free broadband access and a home computer
• Strengthen the infrastructure of financial support services
• Invest in parent-led support networks to help parents and share tips
• Provide access to healthy, affordable food
• Offer free relationship counselling
• Make it easier for families to access services using public transport

System challenges included the following:

• Create a more flexible benefits system
• Implement a strategic approach to supporting families with a disabled child
• Tackle low-level mental health issues

Points to consider

• Methodological strengths/weaknesses: The work was with a small number of families; however the team has since also been able to validate the work with further research
• Applicability: Applicable to government, regulators, policy makers, support agencies and anyone working with low income families and with children.
• Relevance: Highly relevant as the increases in cost of living continue to push more families into poverty.
• Generalisability: The report is focused on the particular issues in the area but much of the learning about the families will apply to low-income families throughout the UK and in other markets.