‘It Didn’t Always Work’: Low-Income Children’s Experiences of Changes in Mothers’ Working Patterns in the UK

Underpinning Labourʹs welfare-to-work policies is an assumption that employment will benefit disadvantaged children and their families. However, the effect of low-income and unstable employment on lone mothers and their children is uncertain. This article draws on interviews with children drawn from a qualitative, longitudinal study of low-income working family life, to explore the accounts of those children whose motherʹs entry into the labour market was unsuccessful. The article examines how children experienced their motherʹs employment and the impact of ʹfailedʹ work transitions on their well-being and their perceptions of the value of work for them and their families.