A safety net or ties that bind? Women, welfare and self-employment

Purpose - This paper sets out to examine the challenges facing benefit-dependent lone mothers who seek to engage with self-employment. Design/methodology/approach - A case study approach offers a detailed analysis of the experiences of three women considering the transition from benefit dependency to self-employment. Findings - The current welfare regime discourages lone mothers from entering formal self-employment. Research limitations/implications - The number of cases is limited by the nature of the study involved. Future work would seek to expand upon this. Practical implications - Questions are raised regarding the efficacy of current welfare to work policies as, in this case, they would appear to impede enterprising behaviour and positively encourage informal working. Originality/value - The paper engages in a novel fashion with the concepts of gender, welfare dependency and enterprise whilst developing a critique of current policy.