when ends don't meet: assets, vulnerabilities and livelihoods

8/7/2019 When Ends Don't Meet: Assets, vulnerabilities and livelihoods

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ASSETS,

VULNERABILITIESAND LIVELIHOODS

AN ANALYSIS OF HOUSEHOLDS

IN THORNABY-ON-TEES

SHEENA ORR GREG BROWN SUE SMITH CATHERINE MAY MARK WATERS

WHEN ENDSDONT MEET

B U I L D I N G B E T T E R L I V E S


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Contents

Executive Summary 2-8

Section 1 Introduction

1.1 Background to 9-10Thrive Initiative

1.2 Context 10-111.3 The Sustainable 11-15

Livelihoods Approach1.4 Thornaby households 15

and questionnaire

1.5 Household types 16-171.6 Structure of the report 17

Section 2 Financial Assets

2.1 Sources of income 182.2 Savings, credit and debt 18-202.3 Access to Bank Accounts 20-21

and credit2.4 Impact of debt 222.5 Debt and Advice 22-23

2.6 Budget Control 232.7 Insurance policies 232.8 Gender and Financial 24

Assets

Section 3 Human Assets

3.1 Knowledge and skills 26-273.2 Health and ability to work 27-283.3 Self-esteem 293.4 Ill health amongst children 29

3.5 Caring for adults and 30children with disabilities3.6 Women and unpaid work 303.7 Gender and Human Assets 31

Section 4 Social Assets

4.1 The importance of 33-35relationships

4.2 Support from 35previous partners

4.3 Care from family 35and friends

4.4 Social contacts 354.5 Faith 364.6 Gender and Social Assets 36

Section 5 Public Assets

5.1 Community Activity 37-385.2 Local Services 385.3 Local Groups for 38-39

Regeneration5.4 Gender and Public Assets 39

Section 6 Physical Assets

6.1 Productive Equipment 40-416.2 Transport 416.3 Gender and 41-42

Physical Assets

Section 7 Inter-relatedness

of assets

7.1 Assets Pentagon 43

Section 8 Livelihood and

Strategies Outcomes

8.1 Surviving and coping 458.2 Shocks to Households 45-478.3 Livelihoods ladder 48-498.4 Analysis of livelihoods 49-50

strategies

Section 9 Looking to 51

the Future

Section 10 Conclusions 52-54

References 55

Annex 1 overview of households 56

NOTE: The names ofinterviewees have been changed

in order to protect their identity.


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KKeeyy FFiinnddiinnggssStrength and resilience

This study affirms the positiveaspirations and strengths of men andwomen living on low incomes inThornaby. Contrary to the all toocommon stereotypes of people onlow incomes as feckless,irresponsible, and undeserving, themen and women we intervieweddemonstrated considerable resilienceand resourcefulness in the face of

significant barriers anddisadvantages, and in hard timesthey strove to make ends meet, andto keep going.

Non-financial assets

For many people non-financial assetswere often the strongest and mostimportant assets they had, withdependence on families and social

networks really standing out as

crucial in combating the isolation theyexperienced. Interviewees recognisedthese assets as really positivefeatures in their lives, and an

important element in their copingstrategies.

Enduring poverty

The research highlighted the day-to-day reality men and women inhabit,and the continuing existence ofpoverty. Many people had very fewfinancial assets and for some, thiswas combined with high levels ofunmanageable and unmanaged debt.

Use of credit and debt

Debt was particularly common amonglone parents, who were more likely toaccess high cost alternative creditthrough non-mainstream sources,such as doorstep lenders. Thecombination of high interest rates,inability to move beyond survival

EExxeeccuuttiivvee SSuummmmaarryyThornaby on Tees is a town in the North East of England where ChurchAction on Poverty has been working since the late 1990s. It is typical of

many towns where, since the 1970s, the key industries have been

declining, and inequality between areas has increased. Containing some

of the poorest wards in England, it has been the focus of significant

regeneration activity over the last few years.

This report describes a pilot project of Church Action on Poverty (CAP) andOxfams UK Poverty Programme (UKPP) to explore how men and women in24 low income households in Thornaby construct their livelihoods. Drawing on

the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) commonly used in internationaldevelopment, the research is based on detailed interviews with participants,working with them to understand what assets they have, and their ownanalysis of how they are getting by. In addition to the interviews, the projectalso carried out some participatory research and an analysis of the local andregional economy.

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mode, lack of any assets, and mentalhealth problems brought on by debt,affected women disproportionately.

Mental health

The majority of the households in thisstudy, and a high proportion ofwomen (all but two in the survey)experienced mental health problems,especially depression (including post-

natal). This had a big impact on theirability to earn and therefore toincrease financial assets.

Women are poorer

The factors that made women poorerthan men are complex. Many womenliving on their own could notundertake paid work to grow theirfinancial assets, because of their

caring responsibilities, and did notmove beyond survival mode. Someopted to remain on benefits becausethe transition to work felt too risky totheir overall livelihood strategy, andthey considered that paid work wasnot worth it. A number who hadseparated from male partners choseto give up claims to high valuefinancial assets such as pensions or

mortgages, in order to get a cleanbreak from their partner.

Couples are better off

Couples were more likely to be in avirtuous circle of asset growth, andsingle people and lone parents in avicious circle of asset loss. Coupleshad more joint capacity for combiningpaid and unpaid work, and the

potential to negotiate roles within the

household, and therefore greaterflexibility of labour leading to a betterability to weather external shocks.

Gender stereotyping

Gender stereotyping played a role inrestricting the choices of occupationmade by women and men in thestudy. Many of the women ended upin low paid employment based on

stereotypical female roles: forexample as care workers,hairdressers, or classroom assistants.This affected womens chances ofasset growth, particularly if they wereliving on their own. Men, particularlyin couple households, were morelikely to be in higher-level craft skilledindustrial work, which was better paid.This gave them greater potential to

build their assets.

Political engagement

Most people in our survey wereunaware of, or uninterested in, localregeneration schemes. Few had anyinvolvement in their local council or inthe planning and delivery of services,and little belief that their involvementwould make any difference to local

decisions made.

Interaction with public services

Both women and mens experiencewas that when public services wereapproachable and useful, theybenefited a great deal, but when theservices were unsupportive andtreated people without dignity, theimpact on the individual and their

confidence was immensely damaging.

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The SustainableLivelihoods Approach(SLA)

Poverty in the UK is oftencharacterised as a combination ofpowerlessness and materialdeprivation, with the result thatanalyses of poverty often do notconsider the assets and positivestrategies that people experiencingpoverty employ to overcome some ofthe obstacles in their lives.

The Sustainable LivelihoodsApproach analyses peoples existingassets and how they use these tobuild a sustainable livelihood. Theseassets are divided into five mainareas: financial, human, social, publicand physical, which jointly create acomposite picture of the life of aperson within their household and

community. This understanding isthen considered in the light of themultitude of factors that have aneffect on peoples vulnerability topoverty, including householddynamics, local services and nationalpolicy. The approach includes astrong gender dimension looking athow women and men forge theirlivelihoods together and separately.

To help identify how secure, longterm and effective peoples strategiesare for creating and preservingassets, the research categorised fourstages: surviving, coping, adaptingand accumulating (each of which hasdefining characteristics). One keyfactor is the extent to which apersons livelihoods strategy is ableto withstand external shocks - events

and situations beyond the control ofthe individual, such as relationshipbreakdown, bereavement, loss of a

job, or even a cooker breaking.Together they form a livelihoodsladder which people move up anddown at different times in their lives.The aim of the project is to explorehow people can move on fromhaving a survival strategy to havinga sustainable livelihood.

PPeeooppllee ss AAsssseettssFinancial assets

Overall, financial assets were theweakest, especially for singlewomen and lone parents, withmany people reliant on borrowing,and state benefits and experiencingpoverty on a daily basis.

At one point I couldnt summon

enough energy to put out the wheely

bin. I couldnt understand until afriend from church pointed out I

hadnt eaten enough calories Id

had a few days of just drinking tea til

my money came through.

Women were the most likely tohave high levels of debt. This wasa result of women taking on mostof the burden for caring, and using

credit to buy family necessities.Many of the women identified theexperience of large debts ashaving a harmful impact on theirhealth. Debt was described as:

Depressing, devastating, a curse,

demoralising, heartbreaking, cant

sleep, housebound, living in denial

Womens caring responsibilitiesmade it hard for them to access

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paid work, and hence to build upfinancial assets.

I am unable to work because I cant

afford the childcare, the tax creditsdont cover the cost of sending the

kids to nursery even though my sister

works there and gets a discount, it is

expensive and there is a 40 gap I

cant cover

Human assets

The loss of human assets had ahuge impact on peoples ability to

maintain or build other areas.For example when mental healthwas an area of concern, as it wasfor all but two of the women weinterviewed, the ability to juggleboth caring responsibilities andpaid work was compromised.

I used to work in a care home, but I

became overworked. I worked three

weeks of double shifts 7.45am - 9pm.

At the same time I was looking aftermy father who was ill receiving

treatment in hospital. I had to take

him to hospital on my lunchtime. In

the end, one of the old ladies we

were looking after found me crying

and looked after me. After that I went

on the sick with depression.

Health was a key issue for those in

caring roles, with poor-health ofdependents often being a keyreason for not accessingemployment.

When my parents became ill, I

looked after them for several years.

As a result I was out of the job

market for a very long time and found

it difficult to get employed when I was

ready to work again. It was the

exhaustion of looking after my

parents for 11 years which meant

that when I lost them, and couldnt

get back into the job market, my own

health was at risk.

Overall, women tended to havefewer and lower post schoolqualifications, despite more ofthem leaving school with higherqualifications. Many went on tocommunity level courses, but formost this did not translate into jobs.

Social assets Having strong social assets,

particularly moral and practicalsupport from family and friendswas very helpful, and had knock onbenefits for other assets.

Ive got a lot of friends, and get fed

three times a week, and they get to

spend time with me

Links with churches, communitygroups and projects provided astrong source of support as well asopportunities for volunteering andsupporting others.

Im now back at work, though

keeping up the house on my wage is

still difficult. Nonetheless, I help out

at the church now with fundraising

and helping in study and youth

groups. I also do a few hours at the

charity shop. I feel that with people

having given so much to me I can

now help in giving something back.

Public assets

The quality of public service assetswas important. For example fewpeople engaged with publicstructures such as regenerationinitiatives, but 60% of people cited

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using the library on a regular basis.Some told of far less positiveexperiences.

Once my cooker broke, and I wentto the job centre for a grant, they just

asked cant you live on sandwiches?

But my local MP, Dari Taylor, got

involved and I got the loan

When I was experiencing domestic

violence, I had to travel to Stockton

to get it dealt with. On one incidence

it took three hours for the police to

respond to my call for help. In fact,some times it is better not to report

an attack as my ex-husband told the

police that I had hit him first; and the

police said that if I carried on with my

claim they would have to arrest me

and lock me up. And having 3

children I could not take the risk.

How the assets relate to

each otherAlthough each type of asset is important(financial, social etc), looking at howthey interlink gives a more completepicture of how livelihoods areconstructed. For example, when anexternal shock leads to the loss of oneasset, this affects the individuals abilityto grow assets in all areas, and cancreate a constant condition of insecurity,

and fear of losing other assets. In ourgroup of households a particularlycommon scenario for women was thebreakdown of a relationship (socialasset), leading to poor health (humanasset), leading to decreased ability toearn and increased debt (financialassets), leading to poorer housing(physical assets) sometimescompounded by ineffective or unhelpfulresponses from public services.

Our research indicates, however, thatthe reverse scenario can also occur.As one asset is increased, there is

an improved ability to withstandshocks, and to develop other assets.

The livelihoods ladderThe amount of choice and flexibilitythat people have over livelihoodstrategies depends largely on whataccess they have to assets.Households may find themselvesanywhere on the spectrum from no

choice (survival), to a limited range ofchoice (coping) through to householdswith more choice (adapting) andfinally those with a full range of choice(accumulating). An understanding ofthe strategies and outcomes at eachlevel is a useful tool for identifyingpositive interventions to support thelivelihoods of women and menin poverty.

In this study we identified thefollowing characteristics within eachof the above categories:

Surviving

People feel that they are justsurviving and life is a continualbattle against things going wronge.g. redundancy, illness of

themselves or close relative,unwanted pregnancy, and are veryvulnerable to external shocks

Low self-esteem leads to a feelingthat no-one is interested in themand that most support services arenot for them

Total reliance on benefits Arrears on rent or utility bills and

high take up of doorstep/highinterest credit

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Frequent use of strategies such aswalking rather than paying fortransport, borrowing from family

and friends, living with in-laws orparents, not sending children onschool trips, minimising food eaten,using candles for light, switchingoff heating, no treats

Coping

People feel that that they aregetting by but there is not muchprospect of them being any better

off in the future. They can copewith minor external shocks,but are still vulnerable

They may take advantage ofsupport services but it usually doesnot help them enough to the nextlevel, and they still feel alienatedfrom power structures

Unpaid and voluntary work androles play an important part in

women and mens lives Total or partial reliance on benefits Low paid jobs often working at

night for women or indangerous/risky labouring andbuilding jobs for men

Engaging in the informal economy Women still at risk from doorstep

lending and high interest rates

Adapting

People are actively workingtowards the future. They have avision of what they want for thehousehold, and what theopportunities are for achieving it.

The strategies are robust enoughto cope with many, but not all,external shocks.

There is an interest in andengagement with community and

public life At least one member of the

household working in the formal

economy Agreed balance of roles between

male and female partners as tochildcare and work

Accessing mainstream credit

Accumulating

People feel that life is going wellfor them and that it will continue toimprove. They have a stock of

assets which is used as a basis onwhich to build in the future, andwhich they use to cope withexternal shocks

Working in the formal economy Home ownership Gaining advanced qualifications Having access to mortgage and

mainstream credit

Households placed themselves onthe livelihoods ladder in thefollowing way: 3 surviving 14 coping 6 adapting (researchers felt 2 of

these would more accurately bedescribed as coping)

1 accumulating

Most households were either justsurviving or coping, and were oftenreliant on support generouslyprovided by family, friends andsometimes the wider community.These social assets were enablingthem to cope. It appeared, however,that the limited assets of a relativelypoor community were being shared,which helped to prevent the mostserious poverty, but did not allow

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people to accumulate stocks ofassets and address their poverty in along term sustainable way.

ConclusionUsing an asset-based livelihoods analysishas enabled us to uncover the reality oflife for people experiencing poverty, thestrategies they used to get by on a dailybasis, and the opportunities they had tomove towards a more sustainable future.

Based on our findings, we believe

the Sustainable LivelihoodsApproach is a useful tool in ensuringthat policy is based on anunderstanding of the strategies andchoices that people have to make tosurvive. Moreover, SLA can enrichand broaden understanding of whatis sometimes termed in the UKasset-based welfare.

Our analysis also suggests that itwould be worthwhile for policymakers and service providers toengage more directly with peopleexperiencing poverty on a systematicand regular basis, ensuring thatpolicy is sensitive to the survivalchoices people often have to make.

Having undertaken the analysis in

Thornaby, we are working to developconcrete projects identified by localpeople to address two or three keyissues highlighted by the research,and working with local decisionmakers to see how the learning fromthis work can illuminate andcontribute to local and regionaleconomic development.

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Introduction

Speak to anyone who has experiencedpoverty and somewhere in theconversation there will be an end ends that dont meet, the end of theirtether, at wits end. This may recognisea linear process over time but seldomdo we get an insight into the multi-dimensional aspects of poverty intothe deeply embedded inter-relatednessof lack of resources, opportunities, assets

and hopes.But equally, perceptions ofpoverty can blind us to the sheerdetermination, will to survive andingenuity of people forced throughcircumstance to live near or below thepoverty line. This study of 24 householdsin Thornaby takes us into peopleseveryday lives. It examines what ishappening to men and women, how theyrelate to each other and make a living

jointly or alone.

The Thrive project has been set upas a project of Church Action onPoverty and is a growing coalition oflocal people who have committed toworking publicly to tackle poverty in thelocal area. This project came as aresult of over a year building contacts,and carrying out qualitative interviews

in the town of Thornaby in Teesside inorder to understand better the holisticnature of poverty. Using theSustainable Livelihoods Framework(see Section 1.3) the purpose of theinterviews is to gain a greaterunderstanding of the role of assetswithin the household economy, thedifference between women and mensaccess and control of assets, the

resulting household strategies and

outcomes and how intra-householddynamics contribute to their successor failure.

Oxfam UK Poverty Programme andChurch Action on Poverty have workedtogether on this study, which builds onprevious work done by bothorganisations.

1.1 Background toThrive Initiative

Oxfam has used sustainable

livelihoods as a key element of povertyanalysis both internationally and in theUK (See Hocking, 2003; GellidegFoundation Group and Oxfam, 2003).Core to that analysis is genderdifference. Men and women havedifferent activities and roles, havedifferent resources, and benefitdifferently according to their controland ownership of resources and

assets inside and outside thehousehold. Oxfams UK PovertyProgramme (UKPP) supports theThrive Initiative in working for moresustainable livelihoods for some of themost deprived men and women inThornaby. It is doing this throughgendered household research(reported on here), and throughsupporting organisations to work

together to develop more effectiveaction in relieving poverty and tacklingsocial exclusion. The UKPP also aimsto influence decision makers at local,regional and national level to amendpolicy measures to tackle the rootcauses of poverty through carefulattention to how and whether womenand men separately are able to accessthe necessary assets for them todevelop a truly sustainable livelihood.

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1.


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Church Action on Povertys (CAP)core aim is to work with people livingin poverty, the churches and others

to overcome poverty in the UK.Two key elements of CAPs overallapproach are to give a voice topeople in poverty, and to seek toapply lessons from internationaldevelopment to tackling poverty in adomestic context. The sustainablelivelihoods approach althoughwidely used in internationaldevelopment for more than a decade

has rarely been applied in a UKcontext. In contrast to the kind of topdown approaches common in theUK, the sustainable livelihoodsapproach offers the prospect of amuch more holistic and people-centred way of looking at andresponding to poverty. Thrive buildson work which CAP has undertakenin Thornaby over the past eight years

and provides an ideal opportunityto model how local people, localchurches and other groups within thecommunity can work together totackle some of the underlying causesof poverty as identified by peopleexperiencing it firsthand.

1.2 ContextThe Teesside conurbation grew

dramatically between the period from1800 1900. Growth startedfollowing the purchase of land in1829, by a group of Quakerbusinessmen from Darlington. Landwas purchased to further develop theports, for use by the coalfields ofDurham. In 1850 iron ore wasdiscovered in the Cleveland Hills, thisore was then used to further developthe steel industry in the area.

The Tees Valley has a proudindustrial heritage based aroundsteel, heavy engineering, shipbuilding

and chemicals. Restructuring ofthese industries in the late 1970sand early 1980s led to majorreductions in the number of staffemployed by the areas majoremployers, British Steel and ICI.Manufacturing output decreaseddramatically and social problemsincreased in line with the high levelsof unemployment. Employment in

large corporations had reduced andbusiness start-up rates were one ofthe lowest in the country. TheEuropean Union classified the TeesValley area as one that was inindustrial decline, and meeting thedeprivation levels of Objective 2 ofthe European Structural Fund.

Significant progress has been made

in recent years to both diversify theeconomy and to build on existingassets. The areas economic strategyfocuses on developing a knowledgedriven economy, supported byinfrastructure improvements.Teesport is the second largest port inthe UK and is the only deep-sea porton the east coast. Two universitiesare based in the area. Research

facilities in areas such as health andelectronics will support existingsectors and assist in diversification ofthe economy.

Tees Valley remains the largestheavy industrial complex in theUnited Kingdom. The petrochemicalcluster at Wilton, Billingham and SealSands is the largest integratedcomplex in the UK and the second

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largest in Europe and is backed bythe largest private sectorpetrochemical research centre in the

UK. A variety of companies nowoccupy the former ICI chemical sitesproducing a whole range of productsand supporting production ofspeciality, pharmaceutical andbiotechnology products. Growth isalso taking place in the developmentof fuel cells and in energy technology.The sector contributes 3.5 billion tothe UK economy. The growth has

concentrated on the development ofknowledge-based value.

Linkages and interdependenciesexist between the areas highperforming sectors of Energy andthe Environment, Healthcare andHealth Sciences and ProcessingTechnologies. Opportunities existfor the region to build on these

competencies and gain particularcompetitive advantage throughinnovation, design and functionality,by applying scientific andtechnological research outcomes.

Several institutions are responsiblefor the shape of the redevelopmentand the governance of the area, froma regional down to local level,

including ONE North East, theRegional Development Agency;Government Office North East(GONE); the Tees Valley Partnership,a sub-regional strategic body; localhealthcare trusts, and Local StrategicPartnerships.

Thornaby is typical of other UK townsrecovering from the loss of thetraditional manufacturing industries,

with a population of just over 22,000.The residents are grappling withfinding a new identity and new ways

of working. This is clearly shown inthe timeline of key developments inthe recent history of Thornaby (Table1). The timeline was developedduring a participatory appraisalconducted in the centre of Thornabyin 2000 and reflects residents ownimpressions and memories ofsignificant events in the common lifeand development of Thornaby as

they see it. It does not record thesocial changes that are just assignificant eg changes in womensstatus and access to employment,key legislation etc. Nonetheless theselection of events is important inhelping planners to understand whatis significant to local people.

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Source: Abbreviated from a fuller timeline in the Thornaby ParticipatoryAppraisal, August 2000 (Thornaby Health and Well-being Steering Group and

Centre for Environment and Society , University of Essex)

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Table 1 THORNABY TIMELINE1930s to 1990s

1930s New housing in council estatesGreat unemploymentShort working weekTrust able to leave doors openTrams stopped runningAerodrome opened home of 608 squadron

1940s Full employment war timeSunday schools very activeThornaby bombed at various timesLoss of community when Erimus knocked down

1950s Excellent community spiritEveryone working, unemployment low3 picture houses, 3 dance hallsVarious incidents plague of rats, river overflowed,milkman and 3 horses died in accidentQueen visited Thornaby (1957/58)

1960s Lot of people left the areaNew shopping centre opened (1963)Thornaby Airfield redeveloped into high density housingand shopsThornaby citizenship taken away addresses becomeStocktonActive Town Hall and Local Government

1970s Loss of local industry and way of life(working from 16 to 64 years)Part of Old Thornaby demolished to make way for A66Loss of community spiritClosure of Old Thornaby police station and libraryDemise of Thornaby as a borough councilSocial deprivation startedOpening of the Robert Atkinson Community Centre

1980s Closure of Queen Street schoolTeesside Development CorporationTeesdale plannedDecline of Thornaby Railway station

Allotments decliningSBC removed Thornabys Special Landscape Area(Tees Valley A66) from their local plan

1990s Closure of the Dog trackDurham University built on old Head Wrightsons siteFishing in the TeesWidening of A19Remembering Thornaby Group formed


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Residents of Thornaby see the townas being divided into three distinctparts. The old part is where the big

industrial plants used to be andwhere rows of terraced brick housesstill survive, including the area ofVictoria. The middle area containsboth the Village and the Mandalearea (which is currently beingcompletely redeveloped), and thebottom end where the town centreprovides the focus surrounded by thesprawling housing estate built on a

huge 2WW airfield, including theStainsby Hill area.

Taken together, however, Thornabycontains some of the poorest wardsin England and has been the focus ofsignificant regeneration activity overthe last few years. Despite thisinvestment employment levels,health, levels of home ownership and

the number of children in low incomehouseholds continue to compareunfavourably with national as well asregional statistics.

1.3 The SustainableLivelihoods Approach

The main framework used for theresearch was the DFID SustainableLivelihoods (SL) Framework shown

in Figure 11. The framework is part ofa wider livelihoods approach whichprovides a way of thinking about theobjectives, scope and priorities forbringing about change. The approachis based on a set of core conceptswhich underpin the wider Thriveinitiative these being:

People centred supporting peopleto achieve their own livelihood goals

Holistic recognising the multipleinfluences, actors, strategies andoutcomes in peoples lives

Dynamic seeking to understandchange and how to support patternsof positive changeBuilding on strengths recognisingeveryones inherent potentialMaking links between the macro andthe micro bridging the gap betweenindividual lives and wider policies andinstitutions that affect themSustainable in a social and

institutional sense as well aseconomic and environmental.

Figure 1 DFIDs SustainableLivelihoods Framework

Source: DFID SustainableLivelihoods Guidance Sheets

Assets

Using the SL Framework meansstarting with an analysis of both theassets that the individual orhousehold retains, and of how theseare used to develop a livelihood.These assets are divided into fivecategories; financial, social, public,physical and human.

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1(A full and detailed explanation can be found in the DFID SustainableLivelihoods Guidance Sheets available at www.livelihoods.org).


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Vulnerability context

Each of the assets needs to beconsidered in relation to one another,

and in the light of the individuals orhouseholds vulnerability to poverty.

For example a car is a physical asset,but as a long-term strategy (ie if it isused to access paid employment) itcan also be considered as essentialto the development of financialassets. However if the car has beenbought through the use of

extortionate credit, it heightens thehouseholds likeliness of experiencingfinancial poverty. Also should the carbreak down, or payments be missedon the loan, and the car berepossessed, this then increases thehouseholds vulnerability to povertyas they will no longer be able to useit to access work.

In order to understand fully thelivelihoods choices that people makeand their vulnerability to externalfactors it is essential to considerthem from a gendered perspective:how do women and men formtheir livelihoods both separatelyand together?

Livelihoods Ladder

Once the assets and strategies havebeen established, it is possible toanalyse the sustainability of thoselivelihood choices. People placethemselves at different points on thelivelihoods ladder: surviving,coping, adapting or accumulating.Each of these points has definingcharacteristics, and a person orhousehold will move up and downbetween the different variables

depending on a range of factors.The likelihood is that a move downthe ladder will be the result of a

shock such as job-loss, relationshipbreakdown or bereavement. Thefurther up the ladder a person is, themore likely that they will be able touse their existing assets to withstandsuch shocks without moving downthe ladder.

Gendering the approach

The household needs to be

recognised as a complex unit inwhich conflicting interests andobligations can exist internally andwhich is influenced by a range ofpolitical, social and economic forcesfrom outside. The HouseholdEconomy Model shown in Figure 2highlights how each individual withina household (indicated by theindividual arrows) can have different

access and control of resources, beengaged in different activities andrelate differently to external agencies.The model acknowledges that thereare a range of household activitieswhich take place and that these donot all receive a financialremuneration e.g. reproductive andcaring roles. Further, carrying outone role may prevent participation in

another role such as taking on paidwork in the job market. A genderedapproach provides an opportunity toexplore how decisions to allocatedifferent activities are made withinthe context of a household and howthis affects the outcomes for theindividual and the household asa whole.

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Figure 2 Household Economy Model

1.4 Thornaby Householdsand questionnaireTwenty four households respondedto various requests for volunteers forresearch. The sample was thereforeshaped by those who could beaccessed, and was made up ofhouseholds referred by Sure Start,5 Lamps (a local communityorganisation), church connectionsand individual contacts made by theproject worker in the precedingmonths. Persistent attempts weremade to engage with people in theAsian community but no participanthouseholds were identified within thetimescale of the research althoughone or two preparatory meetings didtake place.

As shown by our householdtypologies the composition of

households varied greatly. In this

report we have used five differentcompositions of households to drawout the gender differencesdistinguishing between a singlemother and a single father householdand likewise between lone male andlone female households. Even withinone type e.g. couples with children,a great variety of circumstances withrespect to roles, access and controlof assets were observed.

Most of the interviews took placeduring the day, therefore thoseavailable at that time were mainlynot in employment. People withchaotic lifestyles were difficult to pindown and many attempts to interviewthem failed.

A questionnaire was developedadjusting livelihoods headings for theUK context. The main change withinthe SLA was that natural capital was

replaced with public capital.

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There were three parts to thequestionnaire. The first dealt withgeneral information about the

household and the individuals withinit including economic and social rolesof family members. The second partwas a more detailed exploration ofthe different assets including a lookat ownership, access and control.Finally, for those with debt anadditional section was filled out withdetails of sources and uses of debt.Indicators from the Index of Multiple

Deprivation were used in a numberof places within the questionnaire tocross-check household status againstnational definitions of poverty.

Although the focus of the study wasqualitative rather than quantitative,attempts were made to gatherinformation from a cross-sectionwherever possible. The different wards

were represented geographicallywithin Thornaby with 15 householdscoming from Victoria & Mandale, 6from Village and 3 from Stainsby.

1.5 Household typesA total of 24 households were visited.They have been grouped under 5main household types although theseheadings are often broken down

further within the report to highlightthe gender differences:

8 couples with children (Referred toas CC for brevity in the remainder ofthe report)6 single parents (1 father and 5mothers)6 lone adults (4 women and 2 men)2 pensioners (1 couple and 1 lone man)2 men living with parents

Overall, 33 people (15 men and 18women) participated in the interviewswith just over half containing adults in

the 20 30s group. All the loneadults, except 1 were over 40. Thetwo men living with their parentswere late 20s and early 30srespectively. (See Annex 1).

The selection of households for thesurvey was run through a genderlens throughout. We aimed forgender balance (ie interviewing equal

numbers of men and women) andcross checked the actual householdsinterviewed against this and madeadjustments at different points in theprocess. For example, there was aproactive search for men to interviewas they were not coming forward.We successfully redressed thebalance, and noted that this meantthat men were more isolated from or

avoided contact with the wide rangeof organisations contacted to findinterviewees. These were mostlycommunity, voluntary or statutorysector agencies offering support ineducation, childcare, or employment.It is likely that care of children meanswomen are in touch with others andwith helping agencies more. It couldalso mean that men are less keen to

make contact with the helpingagencies, or are conditioned to feelthat such agencies are not intendedfor them.

In terms of Acorn Classification (awidely used demographicclassification tool based onpostcodes) 17 households areclassed as hard-pressed, 6 are ofmoderate means and 1 comfortably

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off the latter being based on thepostal code of his parents housewhere he stayed. This was a useful

crosscheck and proved remarkablyaccurate in most cases.(See Section 8 where livelihoodlevels are discussed).

Housing type

Five households owned their ownhomes four couples and one olderpreviously married woman. Two ofthe lone men lived with their parents.

Four lone households (two male, twofemale), two single parenthouseholds plus one of the coupleshad local authority housing. HousingAssociations were used by bothpensioner households, a singlemother and a lone woman. Privaterented accommodation was occupiedby two couples with children andthree of the single mothers.

(See Annex 1)

1.6 Structure ofthe reportThe next five sections of this reportexamine the findings of our researchbased on the 5 categories of assets;financial, human, social, public andphysical. The section on financialassets goes into particular detail

about debt as this was one of theparticular areas of focus for theresearch contributing to CAPsongoing Debt on Your Doorstepcampaign. Information about humanassets is also dealt with in moredetail than social, physical and publicassets which received less attentiondue to limits on the time available inthe interviews.

Each section starts with a definitionof the particular asset in questionfollowed by a presentation of the

findings and observations.Particular note is made of thegender differences in relation todifferent assets.

The assets pentagon (p??) will thenbe considered, and the need toexamine the inter-relatedness ofthe assets.

Section 8 looks at livelihoodsstrategies and outcomes, and section9 focuses on what people saw astheir opportunities for the future.

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2.1 Sources of income

Household income came fromwages, benefits or a pension or acombination of wages and benefits.(See Figure 4). As only 6 of the 30working age adults in the householdswere in employment the majority ofour sample were relying exclusivelyon benefits. There were a number ofwomen in our sample undertakingquite responsible volunteer jobs but

caring responsibilities meant theycould not or did not want to translatethese human assets into doing paidwork, which meant they did notaccumulate financial assets.

Overall monthly income ranged from440 for one of the single parents toover 1,800 for two of the couplehouseholds. The couple households

were by and large better off because

they could combine paid and unpaidwork more flexibly. Most singleparents had an income of around600 p.m, compared to couples(either with or without a workingmember) who had an income of on

average 1,211.

2. Financial Assets

What do we mean by financial assets?Financial assets are all the financial resources that people use to achievetheir livelihoods objective. Regular inflows of money can include earnedincome, pensions, state welfare benefits, maintenance money received fromex-partners and remittances from people working elsewhere.

Available stocks cover savings and credit facilities. Access to financial capitalor credit, which is gained through financial service organisations such asbanks, is an important area of focus for improving the financial assets forpoorer households. Households may also hold 'liquid assets' i.e. goods that

can quickly be sold for cash such as tools or jewellery.

Source: DFID Sustainable Livelihoods Guidance Sheet Section 2.3.5

Voices from our research

At one point I couldn't summon enough energy to put out the wheely bin.

I couldn't understand until a friend from church pointed out I hadn't eaten enough

calories - I'd had a few days of just drinking tea til my money came through.

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For sixteen households the onlysource of income was state benefitsand within these over half the

households, mainly lone male andfemale, relied on Incapacity Benefitsor Disability Living Allowance.The remainder depended on eitherincome support or, in two cases, jobseekers allowance. Child benefit wasa universal benefit received by allhouseholds with children and in thestudy households this was animportant regular inflow going directly

to the mother (and in one case to thesingle father). Income support wasthe main source of income for all thesingle mothers and father. Childcaring responsibilities combined withthe low wages on offer were cited asthe main reasons for not taking upemployment.

Dave has been unemployed since

1998, and he feels his mainproblem is boredom. He's done allthe training that the Job Centreoffer, and keeps applying for jobsin warehousing but they never getback to him. The training schemesthat he has done in workplacestreated him like cheap labour.He lives with his mum, and feelshe should be the main

breadwinner, but can't seem to geta job. He used to go to the snookerclub sometimes, but hasn't beensince his step-brother moved away.To get a better life, he is sure heneeds a job.

Working Family Tax Credit hadincreased income for workingfamilies. Women particularly felt thebenefit of this as it allowed them to

stay at home and care for their youngchildren which is what a number ofthe mothers stated they wanted to

do, contrary to the governmentsattempts to support them to work.Trying to get the best out of thesystem led to one household startingand stopping work at various timeswhich in the long-run resulted in notbeing able to show a goodemployment record.

Five of the households had an

income from waged employmentbut in two of the cases this wassupplemented by benefits and all ofthe waged households were in thecouple with children category. Fiveof the eight husbands were working.Only one of the wives was working inpaid employment. Another said shewas about to start a new job.

The pensioner households hadadditional income over and above thebasic state pension. The couplerelied on income support and carersallowance. All financial assets fromthe selling of their house had goneon paying rent for their shelteredhousing. The single pensioner reliedon a small private pension and asmall amount of interest from stocks

and shares to supplement the basicstate pension.

Although 3 of the single mothers hadchildren from previous relationshipsnone of them were receivingmaintenance from the father. In somecases this was a deliberate choice toavoid further contact and resulted ina conscious decision not to pursuean entitlement to equal share of

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financial assets. But in one casethe father had deliberately given upwork so that he would not have to

pay anything.

2.2 Savings, creditand debtStocks of financial assets include:savings, possessions that can beeasily sold in crisis situations, loansfrom family members and friends,informal loans from doorstep lendersthrough to larger more formal loans

through high street banks andcredit companies.

Very few households had savings ofany kind. Where they did it was verysmall amounts and usually withChristmas presents or school trips forchildren specifically in mind. Onlyone person had savings over 300and this was a pensioner who used

the capital to generate a smallamount of interest.

Liquid assets were fairly minimalamong the households. Most homeshad a TV but usually on a pay as yougo basis. A range of tools, sewingmachines and beauty equipmentwere mentioned when prompted bythe interviewer, but more as things

that could be used to earn money atsome future time, rather than assetsthat could be sold for money.

Borrowing from family members

was mentioned by a few people butwas not common, and in one casehad caused problems when the loanwas called in unexpectedly. Borrowingsmall amounts from friends was alsoused in emergencies. Bartering of

time was a key medium of assetexchange none the less valuable forbeing unmonetised.

Significant windfalls were mentionedby four households all couples withchildren. In three cases sums ofmoney had been inherited rangingfrom 1,500 to 7,000. In two casesthis had been used for renovating thehouse which they owned. One of theinheriting households also received1,500 in compensation for an

accident. A fourth household hadreceived two grants totalling 1,340from a disability charity.

2.3 Access to BankAccounts and CreditAccess to Bank Accounts variedsignificantly between the householdtypes. See Figure 5. Just under half ofthe households spoken to had access

to full bank accounts (cheque bookand overdraft facility) and these wereeither couple or male households.All the single mothers or lone women

plus 2 couples with children andone lone man had basic accountseither at a bank or Post Office.One household, a lone man, hadno account.

20

Figure 4


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In addition to most women onlyhaving basic accounts onehousehold reported difficulties in

getting an account for their daughterdespite having had accountsthemselves for some years.

Access to mainstream credit

(through banks or building societies)was by far the single most significantfinancial asset that households had or did not have. Mainstreamfacilities, however, were only

available to those with a good creditrating and some form of collateralsuch as owning a house or having asteady job. If not able to accessmainstream credit (reasonablypriced), people were forced to usehigh cost alternative lenders toprovide loans. The criteria for lendingwere not as rigorous as mainstreamlenders but the costs were more.

For our households, these forms ofloans proved easy to get and camein a variety of forms such as cashlending on the doorstep, vouchers forhigh street shops, catalogues andPay as You View television.Individual amounts varied between500 and 2,500 but there wasvirtually no limit to what people could

borrow from these sources. Over halfthe households had loans from 3 ormore places; usually a mixture ofcatalogue purchases, doorstep loansvia Shopacheck or Provident andshopping vouchers. Most of the loanswere taken for a variety of thingsincluding home improvements, a caror equipment and clothing forchildren. Getting into Arrears on rentand utility bills was also widely used

as a way of accessing money to helpcash flow situations.

The list below shows the differenttypes of credit that households hadused over the last five years. Itshows the prevalence of high costalternative credit, and the limitedaccess to mainstream credit. Somehouseholds were using more thanone kind of credit.

4 households had no debt

5 households had arrears(no interest but high risk ofdisconnection or eviction)

4 households had some form ofmainstream credit

22 households had high costalternative credit

The average debt on cash andvoucher loans was around 1000

(989) per household where thesefacilities had been used. It should benoted however that as respondents(particularly lone mothers) were oftenvague or didnt actually know how farpayments had progressed this figureis only a rough calculation.

Seven households had taken a socialfund loan available through the social

services department. This is aninterest free source of cash andfurther applications can be madeonce a previous loan is paid off.Repayments are automaticallydeducted from benefits.

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2.4 Impact of debtA trend throughout the interviewswas peoples own unawareness of

exactly how much debt they were in.Some households said they didntknow how much debt they were inand others only knew roughly howmuch, and were often confused as towhat was owed and when.

Debt and credit had varied effectsupon households. The impact ofdebt on at least four households

interviewed could be described asprofound and damaging, bothfinancially and in terms of humanassets. Whether debt was thecause or symptom of depression isat times unclear, though there wasa clear correlation between the twoissues in two of the households.Debt continued to impact uponother households, even if they

were now moving towards a betterstate of financial health/management. A further group ofaround six households weremanaging and seemed to usedebts and credit as a productivefactor to build other householdassets, e.g. home improvements,cars etc. This group comprisedhigher income groups mainly of thecouple-children type. Single parentmothers and single women feltmore desperate and worried aboutdebt than any other householdcategory. Single men in our sampletended to deal in cash only, andnot have debts, or were notconcerned by the debts they didhave. Of the people who felt theywere managing, most were couples.

The women in our research spoke ofdebt being depressing, devastating,a curse, demoralising,

heartbreaking, cant sleep,housebound, living in denialtodescribe how they felt. When addedto the high number of womendepressed in our sample, theconnection between debt, isolation,shame, and depression is clear.

2.5 Debt and AdviceIn the few instances where people

had accessed advice it was oftenincidentally and through theintervention and signposting on byother professionals / intermediariesfrom agencies not specificallyconcerned with the issue. One lonefemale was referred to ChristiansAgainst Poverty by the church pastorand another was referred by herdomestic violence support worker.

A further household had had itshome budgeting worked through by asocial worker (again in passing asthe social worker was intendedprimarily as a support to people withdisabilities in the household).

As a general rule, households did notseem to go looking for advicethemselves. Several of the women

interviewed couldnt bring themselvesto think about the problem(envelopes piling up, putting them ina black bag) which had a big impacton their readiness to seek solutions.Women in two households mentionedlooking at a pile of debt envelopesand crying. Very few of thehouseholds mentioned CitizensAdvice Bureaux.

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Of the four households seemingly onthe margins of financial sustainabilityor deep in debt only one was

accessing advice. One householdhad debts from doorstep lenders ofover 1000 yet wouldnt know whereto go for advice. Of the 5households previously in debt, butwho were reducing their debts onlytwo had accessed advice (notedabove). One household felt theydlearned the hard way and visitingan advice worker was unnecessary.

Quite a few made comments such as...I already know and Im clued upreally and that they alreadyunderstood issues of debt very well.A smaller number of householdshadnt thought about advice andWouldnt know where to go to tellthe truth.

2.6 Budget controlWhere possible information aboutwho controlled the household budgetwas gathered in couple households.In four households women hadhanded over control of householdbudgeting to their male partner. Notuntypical were comments such asPhilips dead good with money

and Doreen is uneasy withmoney.In one household thefemale had had previous debtproblems and was now happy for herpartner, who was working and thebreadwinner, to take over therunning of the household budgeting.In a fifth household the wife retainedcontrol of the majority of the budgetalthough complex and subtlenegotiations went on over someaspects of spending.

The husband did however retaincomplete control over a credit cardthat he used for his own purchases.

No detailed information was gatheredfor the remaining households.

2.7 Insurance PoliciesAs insurance policies are part of thefinancial services industry on the onehand and a potential protectionagainst shocks as far as householdwere concerned we were interestedto know how many households had

policies and of what sort. There wasa wide range of responses. Only 8households claimed to have anyinsurance policies. Of these somehad various policies, some had justone. Five households had houseinsurance, four had contentsinsurance, and four had lifeinsurance. One household had justsurrendered their endowment policy,

presumably to benefit from the cashnow. Three households mentionedwhat they considered to be miss-selling of policies when the situationthey thought they were insured forwasnt covered leading to significantfinancial ramifications. The majorityof households, however, regardedpolicies of any sort out with theirreach. It was couple households with

children which tended to havepolicies more than other types ofhouseholds.

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Sources of incomeMothers with husbands/partnersgenerally relied on their partnersincome from paid employment.Women were less likely to enterpaid employment for a range ofreasons, however some had

responsible volunteer positions.Most mothers cared for theirchildren fulltime rather than takepaid employment.When women got jobs theytended to be lower paid andpart-time.Younger women did not tend topush for maintenance from ex-partners preferring a clean break.

Bank AccountsWomen, especially those headingup a household on their own, weremore likely to have a basic bankaccount.

Credit and DebtWomen signed up for more debtthan men both within couples andby themselves.Women tended to get into moreproblems with debt especially lonemothers.Women were less likely to knowhow much debt they were inHigh cost alternative credit wasused mainly by women.

Sources of incomeMen were more likely to enter intopaid employment.Men were more likely to be on JobSeeker Allowance if they were outof work.The jobs that men took paid more

although they were also morephysically demanding.In some cases men deliberatelyforfeited income to avoid workingaway from home.

Bank AccountsMen were more likely to have aaccess to a full bank account.

Credit and DebtThe group least likely to have debtwas single males and olderhouseholds

BudgetingMen were perceived to be better

at managing money by womenand in 4 households women hadhanded control over to the partnercompletely.

Differences

2.8 Gender and Financial Assets

Table 2 shows the key observations about gender and financial assets in the24 households that were visited.

Table 2

Overall looking at financial assets showed how women are placed in morevulnerable positions through lack of access to mainstream banking and creditfacilities and exclusion, from the labour market, primarily because of caringresponsibilities.

Women Men

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25

What did we learn about financial assets?

For most of the households, these were the weakest assets Only 6 of the 30 working age adults were in employment

Women's caring responsibilities made it harder for them to accesspaid work

Couple households were better off as they could combine paid andunpaid work

Many households relied on Income Support, Incapacity Benefits orDisability Living Allowance as their main source of income

Very few households had savings to draw on in times of crisis

Couple households had access to mainstream credit and full bankingfacilities, and used this to build up assets. Women found it the mostdifficult to access these mainstream services, and were most likely torely on high cost alternative credit, especially lone mothers.

Asking for financial advice was usually suggested by a third partyrather than coming from within the household. People felt powerlessabout debt.

The effect of being in debt was immensely stressful, especially for thewomen interviewed

Mis-selling of insurance policies was an issue for a number ofhouseholds


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3.1 Knowledge and SkillsAmongst the people we spoke to,having children seemed to be the keyindicator as to whether parents hadtaken post-school qualifications.All couple-children householdscontained at least one person with avocational qualification or in twohouseholds a higher level diploma.In most cases this was the malepartner. Two women in couplehouseholds have vocationalqualifications and a further threesignificant work experience. Mostsingle mothers and the couplepensioners also had variousvocational qualifications. For somemothers continuing education wasstated as a desire to be able to helptheir children with their homework.Those women that did go on toundertake training once they leftschool tended to take short courses

but for most this did not translate into

jobs. This highlights the low value oflocally available community levelcourses, which mostly women took

advantage of, and the lack ofconnection to what employers want,and the local availability of jobs. (SeeGrant and Buckner, 2006).

Those people living on their ownwere the least likely to have a post-school qualification, particularly thelone men and the lone father. Thisgroup were also the group most likelyto have significant health issues.These issues may have preventedthem physically or mentally fromundertaking training and/or enteringinto paid employment. This illustratesthe connection between the level ofquality of human assets, in terms ofgood health, and the ability to buildfinancial assets.

3. Human Assets

What do we mean by human assets?Human assets represent the skills, knowledge, ability to labour and goodhealth that together enable people to pursue different livelihood strategies andachieve their livelihood objectives.

Human assets are required to make use of any of the other four types ofassets. They are therefore necessary, but not on their own sufficient, for theachievement of positive livelihood outcomes.


I've had depression since day one of having my eldest son, I felt on my own,the really bad bout lasted 5 years.

I left school at 15 and went to work on a YTS, looking after older people and

children for 2 years, but there were no job prospects at the end

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However, some householdsexpressed a resigned feeling towardseducation: people my age dont havequalifications. Others reportednegative experiences of trainingschemes. Attitudes to opportunities

also varied, one woman expressed adesire to go to university whileanother person (young man) felt thiswas unattainable.

The couple-children households hadthe highest qualifications and theability to take advantage of this byone member of the householdworking while the other took care of

the children.

Computing skills were increasinglyseen as an important basic skill tohave. Two thirds of the women wereable to use computers including thelone mothers who used it as to emailfriends and for on-line shopping, andin one case looking for jobs. Only athird of men could use a computerand this was usually for gaming or

product research (e.g. for a car or aloan). One person mentioned havingto use a computer as part of theirwork. A few mentioned taking basiccomputer course but none mentionedusing computers subsequently for

further learning.

3.2 Health and abilityto workA major factor in peoples ability towork and earn was their health.Only 6 of the 30 working age adultsin the households were inemployment. 3 were seeking workand a further 9 saw caring for

children or ill adults as their job, or asa reason for not currently seekingwork. The remaining 12 individualswere not able to work due to mentalill-health or long-term physical ill-health. Two of the working men alsohad long-term health conditions butwere able to work in a limitedcapacity. Overall, the biggest healthissue was that ofmental ill-health.

Susan left school at the age of 15 when she became pregnant.She married the father, with whom she still lives, and they now have 4children, 3 of them still living at home. Since leaving school Susan hastaken various short courses but has only ever been able to get a job as acleaner. While working in this capacity at a large supermarket sheremembers being told that she wasn't 'qualified to stack a shelf'. She hastaken on various voluntary teaching assistant positions but so far shehas not got the job of a teaching assistant that she desires. She is juststarting a new job working night shifts. Her husband works full-time as askilled worker but 'hates' the job. He gets about half the pay he didworking away from home but Susan missed him being away so he got ajob nearer home.

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In the snap-shot shown in Figure 10,8 people (5 women and 3 men)stated they were not currently

working due to mental ill-health.A look over time however, showedthat all the women except 2 hadexperienced some form ofdepression that prevented them fromworking for longer or shorter periodswithin the previous 5 years comparedto 5 of the 15 men. None of thewomen described themselves ashaving unqualified good health and

only 3 of the men felt fully fit.

There are clear gender-relatedcauses of ill-health, for instance, menwere more vulnerable to violence inpublic places, women to health

problems associated with birth andchild care. Reasons for depressionfor men included being violently

attacked, death of father, death of achild, multiple deaths of closerelatives, stopping smoking, bullyingat work and redundancy. Threewomen had suffered post-nataldepression, one suffered depressionfollowing domestic abuse and threefollowing the breakdown of arelationship. Other catalystsmentioned were debt, falling out with

a family member and having to care

for a relative. In some cases thedepression was caused by acombination of circumstances.

28

Robin is a single male in his 30s. Bullying at school and then at work havecontributed to his ongoing mental ill-health that has been difficult toovercome and Robin has not worked for the last 10 years. During one ofhis breakdowns Robin ran up debts for sheltered accommodation.The first he knew of this was when he was sent a note of arrears from theMental Health Trust. He felt 'crucified' by the debt which he eventuallymanaged to pay off. Unable to work he volunteers time regularly to variouslocal organisations. He also receives a lot of moral support from his familyand wider community. He would rather have this than their financial

support he says.


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3.3 Self-esteemAs well as education and health,human assets also cover a persons

self-esteem and belief in themselves.In a number of cases it was clearlythe actions and attitudes withinexternal agencies which had knockedpeoples confidence and discouragedthem from progressing rather thanencouraging them. These included:

Low expectations about getting ajob sometimes internally felt but

also externally imposed Negative experiences of training

which had put people off furthertraining

Bad experiences with theemployment service by some

Negative experience of workincluded difficult conditionsundertaking paid care work, sexualharassment and bullying. For those

in work most of them did not enjoythe work they do

Red tape, health and safetyissues and a lack of a driverslicence were mentioned as barriersto becoming self employed orstarting a business

One single mother withconsiderable voluntary experiencetold the employment service shewasnt happy with their jobselections for her

I applied for a job at the big retailpark where I heard there were acouple of hundred jobs packing.I never heard anything back fromthem, but when I told that to thedole, they look at you as if you'relying and never applied in the

first place

3.4 Ill healthamongst childrenHalf the households interviewed had

children of a range of ages livingwith them. Children were a causeboth of growth in assets, and of loss.In some cases older children broughtmoney into the household, or lookedafter younger children. Relationshipsparticularly between daughters andmothers were a source of emotionalsupport to both. In some cases thesupport was the other way round,

with particularly mothers continuingto give to their older children whohad left home, even though nothingcame back in return.

The assets of around half of all thehouseholds with children wereaffected by the ill health of at leastone, and often more, of theirchildren. This ranged from occasional

hospitalisations due to infectionsthrough to ongoing issues includingphysical and learning disabilities,asthma, bowel disease, epilepsy,severe food allergies and challengingbehaviour. Three households hadtried claiming disability livingallowance but were turned downdespite the obvious burden to thefamily. Clearly the effect of copingwith a sick child over a period oftime had taken its toll for many; bothon the health of the parents, and ontheir relationships with othersmeaning a likelihood of a run downof all assets even though some ofthe children brought state benefitsinto the family.

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3.5 Caring for adults andchildren with disabilitiesA third of the households we spoke

to had significant caringresponsibilities within the household.The effects of this on the householdmade themselves felt in two ways.Firstly there was the inability to enterthe labour market as a result oflooking after others. This preventedcarers from being able to earnmoney and build their own skills andhuman capital. Secondly, and related,

the consumption of time and effort inlooking after dependent householdmembers had a knock-on effect onthe individuals health. The extrastress placed on carers lookingafter household members wasfrequently mentioned.

When my parents became ill,I looked after them for several

years. As a result I was out of thejob market for a very long time andfound it difficult to get employedwhen I was ready to work again. Itwas the exhaustion of looking aftermy parents for 11 years whichmeant that when I lost them, andcouldn't get back into the jobmarket, my own health was at risk.

Resources exist for carers (StocktonBorough Council Carers ResourceCentre / MIND support groups etc)but none of the householdsmentioned accessing these. Thesupport that was mentioned includedSure Start, secondary care, socialservices and faith groups.

3.6 Women andunpaid workWithin the household economy

women were far more likely to havecaring and reproductive roles. Forthe household this role allowed othermembers of the household, usuallythe male partner, to engage in paidwork. The decision was usuallytalked through and made on thebasis that the man could gain accessto a higher paid job than the womanalthough in other households there

was the 'Victorian expectation' asone wife put it that she should stay athome and the husband go to work.A negotiated balance between paidand unpaid roles in the householdwas a clear strategy for buildingassets and allowed greater flexibilityin households with two adults. Thedifferent contribution that each othermade was generally recognised in

families. But the caring role was alsoa barrier to participation in the labourmarket especially for lone mothers.As one mother identified

I am unable to work because Ican't afford the childcare, the taxcredits don't cover the cost ofsending the kids to nursery eventhough my sister works there andgets a discount, it is expensive andthere is a 40 gap I can't cover

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3.7 Gender and Human AssetsTable 3 Gender and Human Assets

The picture found among the households visited is not an uncommon oneamong what are recognised as poorer households low qualifications, poorhealth, low self-esteem. What did surprise us was the extent of mental ill-health. Its effects impacted on most households, and, as we discuss inSection 7, are wide ranging. The extent and costs of caring were alsohighlighted through our discussions with households.

31

Differences

Knowledge and skillsOf those who stayed on at schoolmore were women who gained atleast 2 GCSEs.3 women left school due to earlypregnancies.Single mothers were more likely tohave vocational qualificationscompared to lone women and

single fathers.Overall, however, women tend tohave fewer and lower post schoolqualifications despite leavingschool with higher qualificationsthen men.

HealthWomen mentioned cancer,epilepsy, diabetes, learningdisabilities and heart murmur.

Depression in women was due topost-natal depression, domesticabuse, relationship breakdown,debt, stress of caring, loss of job ora combination of some of these.

CaringMore women carried out caringroles with the result that they wereless able to access paid work.

Knowledge and skillsFewer men stayed on at schoolbut they went on to get bettervocational qualifications.Males in couple households hadvocational qualifications whereaslone males had none.In couple households with oneperson working it was the male

that used existing skills to gainpaid employment.

HealthPhysical ill-health for men includedback and knee injuries, diabetesand some unknown illness.

Depression in men was due tobeing violently attacked, familydeaths, bullying, redundancy andthe stress of stopping smoking.

Women Men


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What did we learn about human assets?

Women are less likely to have post school qualifications than men,despite more of them leaving school with higher qualifications.Those that did go on to undertake training once they left school tendedto take short courses but for most this did not translate into jobs.

Many people interviewed had suffered some form of ill-health over theprevious 5 years

Depression had impacted on virtually all the women spoken to and athird of the men. There were clear gender-related catalysts that led tothe depression both for women and men, although for some it was acombination of events.

For people living alone, ill health featured significantly, and thisseemed to prevent them taking training and/or entering intopaid employment.

Disability and ill-health of children in the family was a major factor inthe number and severity of barriers faced by households

Both men and women experience negative and discouraging attitudesfrom external agencies, and this had impacted upon their confidence

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This section focuses on socialcontacts within both households andthe wider community2.

4.1 The importance ofrelationshipsA third of the households wereaffected by the breakdown ofmarital/partner relationships and ourfindings were that this affectedassets, as opportunities to work andasset build were more difficult as alone parent or single person. In thissection we look at the patterns ofhousehold composition that formedover time for the people weinterviewed.

Women and relationships

over time

Of the 18 women in the survey, theones in couple households were thebest off. 7 of the 8 women in coupleswere in long-term relationships andthis was their first marriage. Thesewere the only women who lived inbought homes, apart from one olderdivorced woman. They also hadmore access to assets such as carsand computers. The remainingwoman in this group, and herchildren, had just moved in with herboyfriend and felt that things hadstabilised after a period in debt. Paidwork seemed more of a possibility forthese women although some hadmade a decision with their partner

not to take on paid work.

33

4. Social Assets

What do we mean by social assets?Social Assets are the social resources upon which people draw in pursuit oftheir livelihood objectives. These are developed through1. relationships of trust, reciprocity and exchanges which may provide a

basis for informal safety nets2. more formalised groupings based on common interests3. networks and connectedness either vertical or horizontal which increase

people's trust and ability to work together and expand their access towider institutions such as political or civic bodies

Source: DFID Sustainable Livelihoods Guidance Sheet Section 2.3.2


I've got a lot of friends, and get fed three times a week, and they get to spend

time with me

I help out at the church now with fundraising and helping in study and youth

groups. I also do a few hours at the charity shop. I feel that with people having

given so much to me I can now help in giving something back

2See One NorthEast (2005) for a discussion of economic development and social capital in Tees Valley.


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The women who made up the singleparent group of households had amuch more varied pattern. 2 or 3 had

had a number of relationshipsresulting in children from differentfathers. None of this group lived ina bought home and they all found itvery difficult to take on paid work andcare for young children at the sametime. In 3 cases a relationship breakup had caused a serious erosion offinancial and physical assets,although one of the women was

expecting something from the sale ofthe marital home. In the remaininghouseholds it had been impossibleto build up financial assets, indeedreliance on high cost alternativecredit was one of the definingfeatures of lone parents and singlewomen. Another characteristic of thisgroup was the decision by most ofthe women not to chase up ex-

partners for maintenance preferringa clean break. Domestic violencewas a reason for a relationshipbreakdown in at least four of the tensingle headed households.

All the lone women had previouslybeen in a couple relationship andhad grown-up children but were nowliving on their own. Two of the older

women in this group had beenmarried twice. One had managed toretain some of the money shebrought into the second marriage, butthe other had lost everything over theyears. In addition, three of the four inthis group were in receipt ofincapacity or disability allowances.

Fiona, a single mother, wasworking full-time when she met herfirst partner. After 5 years together

Fiona got pregnant but her partnerwasn't interested in the baby. Shegot severe post-natal depressionwhich resulted in her going off sickfrom work. Her partner also starteddrinking more and became abusiveand two years later she left him.Initially her ex-partner paidmaintenance but after a while hegave up his job to avoid having to

pay. After living in a relative'shouse for a while Fiona moved intoa council house of her own. Shewent onto income support for thefirst time in her life - a situation shefinds humiliating. Now the baby isone year old she keeps herdepression at bay by volunteering -a way of getting herself out of thehouse. She is keen to find a job

again but doesn't want to rush intoa low paid job which she feels willmake the situation worse.

Men and relationships over time

Of the 15 men in the households 8 ofthem were in a couple household.Like their female partners this wastheir first marriage/partnership, apartfrom the one couple who had just

moved in together. 5 men were inpaid employment, one cared for hispartner of 9 years, 1 is unable towork and 1 is a registered job seeker.Although the decision about whoshould seek paid work wasdiscussed in some of the homes,in others there was a clearexpectation on the mans part thatthe woman stays at home and looksafter the children.

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One of the men interviewed was asingle father who had won custody ofhis child although -he had suffered

considerable stress over the break-upof the relationship with the mother.This had put him in the same positionas a single mother finding itimpossible to work and care for hispre-school son at the same time.He was therefore unemployed, butintended to seek paid work once hisson is at school.

In contrast to the lone women who hadall had children by previousrelationships the four working age lonemen had never had children or ownedtheir own property. Two lived in theirparents home, and two in localauthority housing. Depression wascommon among this group brought onby redundancy, accidents, violence anddeath of close family. A sense of

hopelessness and pessimism pervadedthis group more than any other.

The stories above emphasise howproblems such as relationshipbreakdown, violence, redundancy andcaring for ill relatives can have a knock-on effect on other assets often makingwomen and men much morevulnerable to future shocks leading

to longer-term illness and low levelsof income.

4.2 Support from previouspartners:There was very little reported supportin this area and responses showed nopattern. One household said that aprevious partner stays away, anotherwas reported as using drugs, anothersaid that the ex had not been

interested in their child for the last ninemonths. One former partner had justbeen released from prison and was

beginning to show some interest. Forsome a conscious decision to make aclean break had been made whileothers realised the benefit of having afather figure in their childs life andwere actively seeking to rebuild therelationship between child and father.

4.3 Care from familyand friends

A few households had strong supportfrom family and friends and this wasclearly a very important asset,described for example as brilliantand couldnt manage without.The other side of the coin was that3 households themselves providedsupport for members of their extendedfamily. Only one person describedthemselves as self-sufficient, but that

person was paradoxically part of astrong friendship group. Twohouseholds reported reciprocal caringarrangements with family and friends.

4.4 Social ContactsA wide range of social contacts wasreported by most households whichprovided people with a diverse rangeof assets. In 14 households friends

were a key provider of support andhelp. The range of support from familyand friends was greatly variedincluding: financial support, especiallyloans; food in exchange for childminding; hair cuts; nursery discounts;meals; shopping; cheap tobacco; afridge in return for advice; lifts in a car;toys and clothes; support andfriendship. Four households reportedno help at all from these sources.

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4.5 FaithTen households reported links with localchurches - this represents a far higher

incidence than the national averageand probably reflects the channelsthrough which some of the respondentswere identified. Nonetheless, for fivehouseholds church support/contact wasdescribed in strong terms, for exampleit helps overcome depressionandalways someone at the end of the

phone or email to talk to.

People mentioned being involved inchurches in a variety of ways overand above the traditional activities ofservices and bible studies. For anumber of people volunteering withchurch related activities such as Kidsclubs, running a church shop, helpingwith older people and driving thechurch minibus gave them a structureand purpose which they felt was

important particularly if they wereunable to work in regular paidemployment, and was a way ofcontributing to society. Two familieshad received specific help withchildren who had long-term illnessesand others had benefited from beinggifted a weekend away. One family

had received a Christmas hamperfrom the Salvation Army and manymentioned the non-material help in

terms of emotional support at difficulttimes. Help with mental illness andsignposting to help with debt wereother ways that people had beenhelped by their church. One personwho has been involved with a churchfor the past four years described it asgiving stability and grounding.

4.6 Gender and

Social AssetsDuring the research we found it a loteasier to access women than men,suggesting that women are more likelyto be involved in some form of socialgrouping, such as Sure Start or a localchurch. However, women were alsomore likely to be providing support tofamily members living outside thehousehold, including to children,

parents and an uncle. Women suffereda loss of assets as a result ofrelationship breakdown. Men livingalone were noted to be the mostpessimistic of all the groups, oftenciting negative forecasts for theirfutures, and seeming to have the leastsocial assets.

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Those households who were supported by external family members orfriends really appreciated this, and the support was a valuable element oftheir livelihood strategy Volunteering either at a church, community organisation or charity shopswas recognised as a positive asset and an opportunity to repay kindnesspeople had been shown by others. This was particularly the case forpeople who were unable to take paid employment. In our group in Thornaby, women were more likely to have socialinteractions, with both formal and informal groups. Lasting relationships are important assets, particularly for women who

tend to lose the most if the relationship ends The men who lived alone had not had children, and seemed the mostisolated, hopeless and negative about their futures.

What did we learn about social assets?


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5.1 Community Activity

There was a general lack ofinvolvement in communitydevelopment organizations acrosshouseholds. The main engagementwith any organisation was 5 Lamps(a local community centre), whichwas mentioned frequently but usuallyin connection with some sort oftraining course rather than anythingto do with community action. The

Mandale redevelopment had leftmany residents in that area scepticalof the value of their views. They felttheir suggestions and wishes hadbeen ignored. In a few casesresidents were pleased with theoutcome and were looking forward tobeing able to buy a share in a housein Mandale but most felt that theyhad been forced out of the area tomake way for expensive houses.

At a more general level most people

felt that they didnt have a voice inThornaby sometimes this wasbecause people felt they werentheard when they did speak up, forothers they did not see the point inspeaking because no-one will listen.Most people had never met theirlocal councillor and a few did notknow who their councillor was.

Interest in being involved inimproving life in Thornaby:

Ten households expressed aninterest in working to improve thelives of others, although mostresponses were weak/passive; forexample If I could; or If I was ofuse, suggesting a lack of confidencein this area or perhaps notrecognising that they had anything to

give. Three households felt that they

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5. Public Assets

What do we mean by public assets?Note: Natural Assets is the 5th asset in the DFID Sustainable LivelihoodsFramework. We did not find it useful in the UK urban context and havereplaced it with public assets.This is because in the UK people are much less likely to rely on the land andnature as a means of accessing livelihood strategies.By public assets we mean public services beyond basic infrastructurementioned in physical assets. This includes libraries, local organizations andregeneration groups as well as people's general engagement within theircommunity beyond the immediate circle of friends and family.

Voices from our researchWhen I was experiencing domestic violence, I had to travel to Stockton to get itdealt with. On one incidence it took three hours for the police to respond tomy call for help. In fact, some times it is better not to report an attack as

when ends don't meet: assets, vulnerabilities and livelihoods

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