Family Links has analysed the key demographic data on parents attending groups between September 2018 and August 2019. In this period we received data from 402 parent groups taking place across the UK, reaching 2931 parents or carers. The retention rate, based upon the percentage of parents attending 75% or more of the programme, was 76%.
Figure 1: Locations of parent groups by region between September 2018 and August 2019 (Based on a sample of 402 parent groups)
The majority of the parents are mothers (80.1%), followed by fathers (14.3%), grandparents (2.6%), step parents, foster carers and others. As might be expected, most parents/carers are aged 26-49 years (81%), with 11.5% being 18-25 years and 0.8% being under 18.
Figure 2: Age of parents and carers that attended a parent group between September 2018 and August 2019 (Based on a sample of 2.954 participants)
One third of parents are single, separated or divorced and 48% are not in work, being full time carers or unemployed.
Figure 3: Employment status of parents and carers that attended a parent group between September 2018 and August 2019 (Based on a sample of 2.857 participants)
Encouragingly the ethnicity of the parents reached largely reflects the ethnic diversity of the UK as a whole, with a slightly higher percentage of Asian/Asian British parents attending groups, possibly as a result of our work with the UK Islamic Mission and the adapted Islamic values programme.
Table 1: Ethnicity of parents and carers that attended a parent group between September 2018 and August 2019 (Based on a sample of 2805 participants)
In this sample more than 62 different languages were spoken at home, with 15% stating that English was an additional language (EAL). Furthermore, 4.6% of EAL participants, used Family Links foreign language resources. The following picture shows the most spoken foreign languages:
Figure 3: Most frequently spoken languages of EAL participants
If we look at the age of the children, more than half of parents and carers, (54.9%), have children who are aged between 3 and 11 years, followed by 23.5% with children under 3 years, 15.2% between 12 and 16 years, 4.6% with children older than 16 years and 1.8% who declared to be pregnant.
Figure 4: Age of children of parent or carer that attended a parent group between September 2018 and August 2019 (Based on a sample of 5.695 children)
We are very grateful to all those Parent Group Leaders who return data to us and would encourage all Parent Group Leaders to do so. We recognise that this is an under-estimate of all the groups being delivered and are working to improve the return of data through an updated online form, better promotion and reminders through our newsletters and website.
For information on this survey or on data collection please e-mail research@familylinks.org.uk.