The single parents’ charity Gingerbread said there had been a 58% increase in the number of self-employed single parents in the past 10 years, a significant number of them are pushed into unsuitable self-employment in an attempt to get them into work.
According to the report one in 10 parents were forced to resort to “last resort steps” such as using payday lenders, loan sharks and foodbanks.
According to the report a quarter of families are headed by a single parent. Two-thirds of single parents are in work, but 47% of children in single parent households are living in relative poverty.
That is down from 61% 20 years ago, but the figure has been increasing for the past two years and will reach 63% by 2020, the charity said.”
Single parent households have been the worst hit by the welfare reforms of the 2010-2015 coalition government and will continue to be under 2017 changes, with single parent families expected to lose 15% of their income (over £3,800 annually) by 2021-22, according to the report.
Institute for Fiscal Studies predicts The number of children living in poverty will soar to a record 5.2 million over the next five years.
