1. RESTART – Transfer of Innovation 29 – 30 Nov 2010 Marie Cavanagh Director

2. About Gingerbread NI Gingerbread is Northern Ireland’s only lone parent-led organisation works to achieve equality and social inclusion for one parent families by representing their views, advocating for their rights and developing services to address their needs

3. Gingerbread’s Tool-kit Gingerbread has a membership of 1,900 and we deal with over 5,000 one parent families on an annual basis providing the following services: training, advice & information, signposting, and respite childcare, through an holistic, wrap-around service which adopts the ‘whole family’ approach

4. Gingerbread’s Tool-kit Gingerbread consults with lone parents' and advocates for their rights through: research, lobbying, influencing decision makers and working in partnership at a local, national and European level with the public, private and voluntary sectors to develop services for one parent families

5. A lone parent is …  Divorced  Separated  Widowed  Single  Has a partner in long-term institutional care (eg. Hospital or prison)  Single and pregnant A parent with a dependent child or children who is:

6. Lone parents in NI  92,000 one parent families  93% are headed up by mothers  Incorporate 150,000 children  One in four families with children  90% of lone parents want to work outside the home

7. EU demographics: EU demographics indicate that the number of one parent families in poverty is on the rise across Europe  13% of children in EU live with one parent  1 in 3 is at risk of poverty ‘Thematic study on policy measures concerning child poverty’, Policy Studies findings – 10, EC 2008

8. Gingerbread Research has shown  60% or one parent families are on benefits or supported income  56% of lone parents work outside the home  60% of families are in debt  65% of families live in public sector housing  over 50% of children living in a one parent family are in poverty or severe poverty and 1 in 3 lone parents have been known to go without food to feed their children

9. One Parent Family Income  Just over 50% are in work outside the home most of these parents are in low-paid part-time work and rely on additional benefits in the form of tax credits to make ends meet  Just under 50% on Income Support/other subsistence benefits this means that the average lone parent with two children survives on £198 per week this compares to the average earnings for NI which is approx £400 per week

10.  Ensure the project is compliant with all internal & external regulations including audit  Ensure overall financial management & financial record keeping  Make payments on claims submitted  Make payments to sub-contractors and others  Ensure monitoring reports are completed and submitted  Supply financial progress reports to the Steering Group Gingerbread NI’s Role