Featured News
New report: The Single Parent Debt Trap
Posted 8 February 2021
New report shows single parents more likely to experience problem debt and to live in persistent poverty. Many forced to go without food to make repayments.
News
Read the latest news on Gingerbread’s work and the issues affecting single parent families today.
Gingerbread calls on the new government to tackle the poverty epidemic among single parent families
Posted 16 December 2019
As the new Conservative government is announced, Gingerbread calls for urgent action to reduce poverty among single parent families through policies that improve living standards for the 1 in 4 UK families headed by single...
Gingerbread calls for the Chancellor to support single parent families
Posted 23 October 2018
“It’s hit and miss what you get on Universal Credit” Lisa has been plunged into debt with the move to Universal Credit (UC); she is paying back an advance payment of £45 a month and now...
Gingerbread receives cross-party commendation at PMQs
Posted 27 September 2018
We were glad to hear both the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition recognising our “excellent service” at Prime Minister’s Questions earlier in September. It’s not every week that the Prime Minister and Leader of...
New findings on Universal Credit
Posted 16 May 2018
Gingerbread has been working with single parent families to understand the experience and reality of Universal Credit (UC) as it continues to be rolled out. We outline progress against the Government’s objectives to: make work pay personalise support simplify...
Unfair benefit sanctions push single parents further away from employment
Posted 17 April 2018
Unfair benefit sanctions can result in single parents being less likely to find employment and take a severe financial and emotional toll on single parents and their children, with the situation set to worsen under...Unhelpful and unfair? also shows the first signs that Universal Credit risks making this situation worse, as more single parents – including those with very young children and those who are in work – are...
Benefit cap court judgment means “more misery” for single parents with babies and toddlers
Posted 15 March 2018
Today, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the government concluding that the benefit cap is not discriminating against single parents with children aged under two.[1] Laura Dewar, Policy Officer at Gingerbread, comments: “Gingerbread is bitterly...
Centenary report shows more single parents working, yet poverty still rising
Posted 21 February 2018
Our new report, One in four: single parent families in the UK, has been released to mark 100 years of Gingerbread’s work. In the centenary report, we profile single parents in the UK today and how...
Universal Credit job seeking requirements risk pushing single parents with young children into poverty
Posted 1 November 2017
165,000 single parents of pre-school aged children are at increased risk of poverty and debt as a result of new work search conditions placed on them under Universal Credit, finds new research published by Gingerbread...
Government is failing to live up to its promises on universal credit
Posted 18 October 2017
In response to the debate on Universal Credit held today, Rosie Ferguson, Chief Executive at Gingerbread, comments: “Rather than taking action to help families, the government seems content to tinker round the edges of Universal Credit....
More babies and toddlers unlawfully affected by benefit cap than ever before
Posted 3 August 2017
Analysis of new benefit cap figures shows that most vulnerable single parents are still being affected The number of babies and toddlers affected by the government’s benefit cap policy continues to rise – despite a high...