From employability to belonging: learning from our partnership with One Parent Families Scotland

In this blog, Paul Johnston, Chief Executive at Public Health Scotland (PHS), reflects on what we've learned from our partnership with One Parent Families Scotland (OPFS), and how supporting lone parents into meaningful employment can benefit both individuals and organisations alike.

One of the things I value most about working at Public Health Scotland is the chance to see and hear first-hand how our work makes a practical difference to people’s lives for our staff, for the people we work with, and for the communities we serve.

Recently, I met with colleagues who joined PHS through our partnership with One Parent Families Scotland (OPFS). I left that conversation both proud of what we’ve achieved together, and thoughtful about what it has taught us as an organisation.

Why this work matters

We know that secure, fair work is one of the strongest foundations for good health. We also know that lone parents are among those at greatest risk of poverty, often facing multiple barriers to employment – from childcare and transport challenges to inflexible roles and recruitment practices that don’t reflect real lives.

As a national public health body, and as an anchor institution, PHS has both the opportunity and the responsibility as an employer to help tackle these inequalities, not just describe them.

That’s why we partnered with OPFS – not as a short-term exercise, but to commit to widening access to meaningful work for parents who are too often excluded from it.

Turning opportunity into lasting change

Through this partnership, we have created paid, fixed-term roles specifically for lone parents, alongside structured support and development opportunities.

What matters most, however, is what happened next. Every colleague who joined us through this programme moved on to secure, permanent employment within PHS.

For me, that is the clearest measure of success. It tells us that when we remove barriers, invest time and offer trust, people thrive – and organisations benefit too.

From speaking with our new colleagues, they said what had made a real difference to them was.

• being treated with dignity and respect
• having flexible working hours that supported their caring responsibilities
• having managers who led with kindness, patience and understanding
• being part of a workplace culture that believed in their potential

These are not ‘extra’ things, but the basics of fair work for all.

What we’ve learned as an organisation

This work has reinforced an important lesson for us: employability programmes should never stop at employability alone.

The real difference comes when people have the support, flexibility and confidence to stay, grow and succeed.

This partnership has shaped how we think more broadly about inclusive recruitment, flexible working, and how we support parents and carers - using lived experience to inform how we do this. It's also shown the huge impact managers can have in nurturing staff, and why investing in them as leaders matters.

We’ve also shared these lessons beyond PHS, helping to shape wider NHS Scotland conversations about supporting parents into work. If we want lasting change, we need to think beyond what one organisation can do and instead consider how the wider system can work better as a whole.

Improving public health through practical action

Our partnership with OPFS is one example of how we can use our role to improve public health in practical ways. It supports our 10-year strategy, Together We Can, particularly our ambition to tackle health inequalities by addressing the social and economic factors that influence health.

If we want a Scotland where everyone can thrive, we must be prepared to look at our own role in making that possible – including how we recruit, how we support people to succeed, and how we lead as an employer.

I’d like to sincerely thank our colleagues who joined PHS through the partnership for sharing their experiences so openly; our managers and teams who provided thoughtful, compassionate support alongside their day‑to‑day work; and OPFS for their partnership, challenge and insight.

Most of all, thank you for reminding us that public health is not only about the data we analyse or the advice we give – it’s also about the choices we make and the examples we set.

Together, we can – and must – keep doing better.

Paul

Read more about our partnership with One Parent Family Scotland in their recent blog – link to be added

Read more about the PHS Parental Employment Project on our website.