Edinburgh Napier University

  Parents who are disadvantaged in terms of being lone parents or living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods have particular problems getting into work, training or post-secondary education. The Scottish Government set up a �50 million (�75m) programme over four years called Working for Families Fund. This is intended to develop services to help people in disadvantaged areas who find childcare a barrier to employment or training. The money is targeted at parents who are on low incomes, lone parents and families who are vulnerable due to, for example, disability, mental health or substance abuse problems. Over 20,000 parents have taken part in the programme and this paper considers those factors that are associated with their employability. Following logistic regression modelling, it was found that some factors of particular importance are educational levels of parents, numbers of and disabilities of children, and the location they live in.