Revealed: children of lone parents hardest hit by era of Tory austerity

Half of the 3.1m children of UK single parents now in poverty, figures show

Half of all children in lone-parent families are now living in relative poverty, according to exclusive research that shows how a decade of austerity-driven cuts to benefits has left single parents among the most exposed to soaring inflation.

In the first of a series of reports from the frontline of the cost of living crisis, the Guardian reports today on the impact of cuts to state support by successive Conservative governments, which have left women raising children alone in a much weaker position to cope with the shocks of the pandemic and rising prices of basics such as food and heating.

A majority of the 1.8 million loneparent families in Britain – almost nine in 10 – are headed by women. Together, they are raising 3.1 million children – over a fifth of all children.

Research shared exclusively with the Guardian by the Institute for Fiscal Studies sets out the scale of the crisis. It shows relative poverty for children in lone-parent families has risen at a significantly faster rate compared with other households.

Relative poverty is defined as having an income of less than 60% of the national median, adjusted for household size. For single parents, this measure of poverty rose by nine percentage points between 2013-14 and 2019-20 to reach 49% at the onset of the global health emergency.

In contrast, the rate for children in two-parent families rose by only two percentage points to reach 25%. The former Labour prime minister Tony Blair warned that a “painful cost of living squeeze” was hitting families and that progress in tackling child poverty was severely undermined by sweeping benefit cuts imposed over the past decade.

Eradicating child poverty by 2020 had been a key commitment made by Blair during his first term in government at the turn of the millennium. However, the study from the IFS suggests progress was reversed under the Conservatives

‘It is no surprise … after the effects of years of benefit cuts’

Alison Garnham Child Poverty Action Group

Four mothers talk about the daily challenge of feeding and caring for their children. Jane Green, 59, Sussex

I am disabled with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. I was an autism educational professional, but I became very ill and had to retire in 2015. I’ve been a single parent since my children were six and four – and I am still a carer for my eldest, who is 30. They are both autistic, and have ADHD and dyspraxia.

I qualify for a disability benefit, and have a small pension, but I am really concerned about the price rises in energy in October, when the costs go up again. Because of my condition, I can get very cold or very hot, and I can be stuck in bed or on the sofa. Once you get cold or hot, you cannot regulate your temperature, no matter how many clothes you wear.

We are using more and more electricity for cooling in summer and heating in winter, and with petrol prices soaring, too, we are increasingly staying at home. I am going to have to cut it right back to an hour a day. We also both have food allergies, which means the food shop is already expensive. We’ve had to cut down, and it feels embarrassing. I feel that at my

age, I should be more solvent. I’m spending about £120 now for two weeks’ worth of food, when we used to pay about £70 maximum.

Being disabled is already expensive. If you have no petrol, you can’t get to appointments. All my spare money goes on medical health. I get a personal independence payment (Pip), but it doesn’t go far.

When I was a young mother, I often went without, trying to meet their healthcare needs and provide food. These price rises bring back horrible memories – when I felt ashamed because I didn’t know how to manage. Unless you’ve lived hand to mouth, I don’t think you have any idea what it is like. It gnaws at you every night.

Sarah Gibson, 36, Wiltshire

I had been living overseas for about 10 years and moved back to the UK when my child was one in June 2021. My ex pays half the nursery fees, which has been great, but it has been a real struggle to manage financially, despite the fact that I earn a fairly good wage.

Since April, nursery fees have gone up by 50p an hour to £1,277.50 a month. The tax-free childcare system gives me 20% off my childcare fees up to £2,000 a year, but they make it really hard for anyone strapped for time to complete and you have to renew the application every three months.

I was living with my family, but I have recently moved. Finding accommodation as a single mother is so hard. Usually, with onebedroom places, landlords say no to having children living there, and there is a huge rent increase for a two-bed. That means I have had to adopt a different quality of life.

I’m lucky enough to have returned from New Zealand with savings from my job there, but since everything went up in April, I’ve been eating into them and unable to save. These savings mean I am ineligible to apply for universal credit as I am just above the threshold to qualify.

So many contracts tie you in for energy, broadband and so forth for more than a year, so you are stuck if you lose your job – or even if I had to move back in with my parents. Financial insecurity is really scary. I’m dreading winter, when I have to have the heating on as part of my housing contract.

Ideally I’d be savvy with where I shop for groceries, but I’ve got a toddler and a full-time job – I don’t want to spend what little free time I have calculating where the cheapest pasta is. The rise in food costs is noticeable, though, and continues to make a dent in my savings.

Steph Owens, 29, Kent

I’ve been a single mother since my son was born. He’s now five. We live in a house together in Kent, and I work as an NHS associate practitioner. We help to plan and facilitate discharges from hospital.

I was working in learning disabilities and we had such a heavy drop in case load because of the pandemic they couldn’t take me on, and made me redundant. That was very difficult. I was unemployed for four months and had to use food banks because universal credit payments just didn’t catch up with my income.

There was a sense of shame in it. Almost a sense that you can’t provide the very basics you should be able to for your child. I contacted Single Parent Rights and they signposted me to the benefits I was entitled to. You see in the comments all the time on social media, people saying things like: “Well, don’t have children if you can’t afford them.” But life isn’t like that. Circumstances change. You can’t predict the future like that.

I still rely on universal credit despite working full-time now, and I am really feeling the squeeze. My energy bills and food costs have gone up by about £200 a month. I’m absolutely terrified about October. My rent has been going up every three years now, and the council tax has also risen. The cost of the gas hit me hard over winter. I use pay as you go so I don’t get a huge bill at the end of the month, but we have had to wrap up warm and just switch it off most days.

Our weekly shop has gone from £45 to about £100 a fortnight just for the two of us. It has changed what I buy – I tend to go towards the own-brand and value ranges.

The 3% wage rise the government gave to NHS workers just doesn’t make any difference. There is definitely an air of being very underpaid and undervalued for what we do. It would be nice to be able to live, and not live hand to mouth all the time. I’ve not had a holiday since my son was born, and he’s never experienced one. I just want to be able to provide days out. The budget doesn’t stretch anywhere near that far.

Heather Parker, 36, Essex

I’m Canadian, living in the UK for seven years. I have a five-year-old daughter and we just moved into a permanent residence after years in short-term places and women’s refuges. The local council moved me out of east London to Essex, and sadly I lost my support circle.

The rent for my new home is about £900, and then there are utilities and council tax on top. It is quite a lot and I have real anxiety over it, with the rise in energy bills coming up again, and have found it hard to get a second income. The problem is getting another job that is within school hours.

I try to spend no more than £30 a week on groceries, and now it is summer, we don’t have the heating or the lights on at all to save on bills.

There are days when I am hungry because the food goes to her first. I have trouble sleeping, because I’ll be up with anxiety thinking about making enough money, and how I am going to spread the cost.

I am on universal credit. When they took the £20 uplift off it, I had to go to a lot of food banks. There were a lot more food banks in London and it was easier. Here, I have found two, but you have to register to go once a week.

I have family in Canada, but if they sent money, my benefit support would be decreased.