Longstanding welfare-to-work policies are pushing single mothers into “precarious employment” rather than helping them find secure, well-paid jobs, according to a report.

The qualitative study by Good Shepherd Australia, released on Monday, examined the experiences of single mothers who received parenting payment or Newstart.

“All of the women we spoke to were struggling financially on welfare to work, regardless of whether they were engaged in employment,” the report said. “Rather than increasing financial security, welfare to work created day-to-day and longer-term financial insecurity for the women we interviewed.”

In-depth interviews with 26 women revealed myriad issues. Jobactive providers were focused on “remaining accountable to the government rather than to their clients”, some women were “asked to ‘fake’ job applications”, told to seek “cash-in-hand work” to supplement their income, or forced to leave work to attend meetings with their provider.

Only one said their Jobactive provider had assisted them to find work. In all other cases, “where employment was found, it was through the efforts of the women themselves”.

The low rate of Newstart payments meant some women were forced to take casual or part-time contract jobs without paid sick leave or superannuation payments, inhibiting their their ability to find long-term, meaningful employment, said a co-author, Juanita McLaren.

“If those enrolled in welfare to work are pushed into low-paid, low-skilled or precarious employment, it is unlikely that the cycle of poverty will be broken for them despite moving into employment,” the report said.

Welfare to work was introduced by the Howard government in 2006, increasing the range and number of people mandated to seek out and accept work, among other changes.

Since then, successive governments have undertaken various changes founded on the principle of “mutual obligation”. The Gillard government moved single parents from the parenting payment onto the lower Newstart payment when their youngest child turned eight.

McLaren, herself a single mother of three with personal experience of welfare to work, said the jobs and training offered to the women by Jobactive providers were at times completely inappropriate.

One woman was sent to do a certificate IV in working machinery, McLaren said even though she had a medical certificates following a motorcycle injury.

The women interviewed for the study were from a mix of metropolitan and rural areas. Those who were attempting to establish a career by starting their own small business were not supported by their provider, the report claimed.

One woman who had a masters in art conservation and a fledgling small business in the field was only offered work in a biscuit factory in another town by her provider.

Another who found a full-time teaching role that would begin in three months was told she had to keep applying for positions to “remain compliant”, despite already having a job offer.

The Jobactive network, in which private contractors provide employment services on behalf of the government, is the subject of a Senate inquiry.