Summary This report looks at single parents’ finances against a backdrop of austerity, and is the last from our ‘Paying the Price’ project. The findings show that, despite record high single parent employment, many single parents face...

Key findings The report found single parents affected by three main issues: Risk of debt: Most single parents are struggling, with many forced to borrow to make ends meet Work isn’t enough: Working single parents struggling as much...

Summary In-depth case studies illustrating the loopholes that allow child maintenance avoidance – where paying parents are able to minimise the amount of child support they’re requested to pay. The report shows how rules – and...

Key findings Reforms under the CMS mean the system is cheap to administer, but fail children Parents are left in the dark about their options, meaning many give up on a fair assessment The DWP passes the buck...

Summary The government maintains benefit sanctions are only used as a last resort for a very small minority of claimants. This briefing illustrates how the DWP understates Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) sanction rates, how the risk of...

Key findings Benefit sanctions are a significant part of the benefit system, and cannot be dismissed as a minor element – at a recent peak, around one in seven single parents claiming JSA were sanctioned Single parents...

Summary Gingerbread, in partnership with NatCen and Bryson Purdon Social Research, looked at child maintenance arrangements among low income single parent families (those receiving out-of-work benefits in 2012) – assessing their impact, longevity and likely impact...

Key findings In 2012, child maintenance lifted one in five single parents on the lowest incomes who received child maintenance out of poverty Before changes to allow receiving parents to keep their child maintenance, rather than treat...

Summary This report, supported by the Nuffield Foundation, looked at how families manage the arrangements for children to spend time with their non-resident parents, and the kinds of difficulties which families encounter in these arrangements. The majority of...