Voices: Laura Millar (Fife Gingerbread)

In our Voices series, we spotlight the stories and insights of the incredible organisations we support - those driving real change in the fight against poverty and trauma in Scotland. The latest organisation is Fife Gingerbread, which works with lone parents and families across Fife to reduce poverty through both direct family support and wider systems change.

In this piece, Laura Millar, CEO of Fife Gingerbread, talks about the organisation’s work alongside lone parent families in Fife, and its ambitions to tackle child poverty through both direct family support and wider systems change.

Their work, which received a Large Grant from The Robertson Trust, is shaped by what parents say they need, combining trusted relationships and practical, whole-family support with opportunities for parents to have a voice in the decisions and systems that affect their lives.

Central to Fife Gingerbread’s approach is a focus on prevention and long-term change. Alongside supporting families with challenges they are facing today, the organisation is working to address some of the wider factors that contribute to poverty, including access to fair and family-friendly work, child maintenance, homelessness and childcare. By learning from families’ experiences and working in partnership with others, Fife Gingerbread aims to develop approaches that can create lasting change both locally in Fife and more widely across Scotland.

If organisations are expected to challenge systems and stand alongside families, building their capacity to do so must be seen as essential work. It takes time, skills and confidence to challenge the systems that are all too often failing families.

 

What is this project working to achieve?

Fife Gingerbread was founded in 1987 to stand alongside lone mothers facing stigma and isolation. Today, we support around 850 families across Fife. We are guided by what parents tell us they need – trusted relationships, practical support and a real say in the decisions that shape their lives. Our vision is to create better todays and brighter tomorrows. We help families in Fife to flourish, develop scalable solutions to child poverty that can work across Scotland and amplify parents’ voices to create lasting change. Our values (courage, flourish, connected and genuine) shape how we show up every day.

Where are you focusing your support right now?

Locally, we provide whole family support through our Engage–Support–Progress model. Our staff and volunteers walk alongside families, offering one-to-one support, income maximisation, group work, family learning, employability support and training. Partnerships are at the heart of our approach, and we work with local authority and third sector colleagues so families can reach the right support without having to navigate fragmented services alone.

Nationally, we are developing approaches that can be used at scale to tackle child poverty across Scotland. Our Upstream Mindset Framework helps us look beyond immediate pressures to the systems affecting the communities we serve. Current work covers child maintenance, lone parent positive workplaces and child homelessness, alongside new Scottish Government Whole Family Fund projects launching soon on equality and diversity, childcare and integrated support for lone parent households. The common thread is prevention. Acting earlier and turning families’ experience into wider change.

What elements of your service or activities have made the biggest difference for those you work with?

The biggest difference comes from relationships. Families are often navigating complex systems alongside financial pressure, caring responsibilities and the effects of trauma. We meet people where they are and move at a pace that works for them, recognising their strengths and ambitions. This creates the confidence and stability from which longer term change grows.

How do poverty and trauma figure in your work?

Poverty and trauma are not abstract issues but daily realities for many families we support. Our annual snapshot survey helps us understand the strengths in households and the pressures they face. At least 70% of families survive below low-income thresholds, and two-thirds of parents report Adverse Childhood Experiences. These figures do not define people, but they show why support must be rooted in trust.

When a family is in crisis, immediate help matters. Our annual Heat & Eat appeal is an example of this. It provides festive packages, food for families attending groups and crisis support throughout the year. But crisis help cannot be the end of the story. We also work preventatively through income maximisation, access to fair work and partnership with our local Citizens Advice Bureau. So that we can helping families through today and build the resilience (in both people and systems) to make another crisis less likely.

How can funders support your work?

Too often, third-sector funding is drawn towards what is ‘new’, when families also need trusted organisations to be stable, skilled and present for the long term. We need funders (whether trusts, corporate partners or local authorities) to build relationships that respects and values our sectors expertise which is often closest to communities.

What are the biggest challenges/barriers facing you as an org and/or those you work with/support?

Capacity remains one of our biggest barriers. Funding often prioritises frontline delivery and we have made the decision to move away from short term projects as much as possible. There is too little investment in the leadership, systems and development that help organisations learn and grow. Through the Hunter Foundation Changemakers Programme and Social Investment Scotland’s Ambitions Programme, I have grown in skill and confidence as a leader. If organisations are expected to challenge systems and stand alongside families, building their capacity to do so must be seen as essential work. It takes time, skills and confidence to challenge the systems that are all too often failing families.

What changes would you like to see in your area of focus during the next decade?

We believe good work can be one of the most sustainable routes out of poverty for lone parent families but only when it is secure, well paid and genuinely family friendly. Too often, employability support focuses on changing the individual while leaving workplace structures untouched. Over the next decade, we want fair work to become real in practice and Lone Parent Positive Workplaces to become the norm. Businesses must be part of Scotland’s response to child poverty. By acting preventatively and at scale, we can change the conditions shaping the next generation’s chances to flourish.