Policy Change and Patterns of Domestic Purposes Benefit Receipt: A Multiple Cohort Analysis Using Benefit Dynamics Data

Abstract

Since 1996, the abatement regime and conditions of entitlement facing sole pare Ills in receipt of the Domestic Purposes Benefit have changed markedly. These changes were intended to increase sole parents' likelihood of supporting themselves and their families through paid employment. Were they effective in raising levels of participation in part time and full-time work? This paper addresses this question using a multiple cohort analysis based on administrative data on benefit dynamics. It finds marked differences in the declared earnings of successive cohorts that coincided with the 1996 and 1997 Employment Task Force reforms, and strongly suggest that those reforms increased DPB recipients’ participation in part-time employment. lt finds no marked differences in declared earnings propensities following the 1999 DPB reforms, but marked increases in the probability of being off benefit which appear to at least partly reflect policy impacts on full-time employment propensities. lt is possible that compositional changes associated with these increases mask changes in part-time employment propensities. This is an area for further work.