Gingerbread is the leading charity working with single parent families, which has been advising, supporting and campaigning with single parents since 1918. Its services include a national helpline, online advice, peer support groups, training programmes and other employment support. It also campaigns to improve the lives of single parent families, and ensure all single parents are treated equally and fairly.

 

Why single parents need support

·      Less than half of single parents receive child maintenance from their child’s other parent

·      Over a fifth of single parents in 2013/14 had experienced domestic abuse in the last year

·      Children in single parent families are twice as likely as those in couple families to live in poverty

·      Single parents face an increased risk of depression, which is linked to social isolation and loneliness

·      Single parents have made up around a quarter of families with children for the past decade

·      Single parents are more likely than the average worker to get stuck in low-paid work, often because of lack of training, progression or higher paid jobs that work around childcare

·      The majority of single parents are in work, but those with young children particularly struggle in the job market.

You can read more stories about single parents’ experiences here: http://www.gingerbread.org.uk/content/435/Your-stories.

 

How Gingerbread helps

There are two million single parents in Britain. However, being both the main breadwinner and main carer for your children can be tough. Gingerbread’s helpline and online advice helps single parents make decisions about their family’s future, whether that’s about working or studying, managing money, signposting for legal advice and making arrangements with their child’s other parent. Gingerbread’s training programmes help single parents develop core skills and get jobs that fit with their families, working with employers to develop placements that can lead to work.

 

Gingerbread also has a long history of campaigning to improve the lives of all single parent families, stretching back nearly 100 years when they first campaigned to reform the ‘bastardy laws’. Today, they campaign on issues such as affordable childcare, family-friendly employment, effective employment support, a fair support system and appropriate child maintenance arrangements.