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Income & Standard of Living

One parent families are one of the groups most vulnerable to poverty.

In 1999 70% of single parent households in Scotland had a net annual income of less than £10,000, compared to 25% of small two parent families and 29% of large two parent families [2].

Lack of income has a number of effects on living standards as shown in the table below showing ownership of key items among single parents compared to two parents [2].

Item	Single Parents	2 Parents
Car	33%	86%
Telephone	88%	98%
Computer	24%	54%
Internet Access from Home	6%	26%

Financial insecurity is also an effect of poverty with 79% of single parents having no savings, compared to 41% of two parent families [2].

Likewise 3% of single parents have no insurance, compared to 11% of two parent families [2].

Children in one-parent families are much more likely to go without necessities than children in two-parent families, irrespective of other family circumstances such as whether parents are in work or not.
But lone parents spend almost as much on their children as do married parents, spending considerably less on themselves, including frequently going without food [9].

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Benefits Paid to Lone Parents

Income Support

Income Support is a means-tested benefit payable to people who are not employed or are working less than 16 hours/week [10].

In Nov. 1998, 90,447 lone parents in Scotland received Income Support [10].

Working Tax Credit

WTC is a means tested benefit for low paid workers (with children) who work 16 hours or more a week. This replaced the previous Family Credit.

In February 2000, 509,200 lone parents in Britain were receiving Family Credit or WTC, with an average weekly payment of £73.64.
Of these 81,700 (16%) were receiving an allowance for childcare, averaging £31.13 weekly [19].
The average weekly hours worked by lone parents claiming WTC was 26 hours.

In Scotland 63,000 lone parents were receiving Family Credit or WTC, with an average payment of £72.80 weekly, which is the lowest level outside London [19].

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Maintenance

In 1989, before the start of the Child Support Agency (CSA) 29% of lone parents received regular maintenance payments.

The average weekly payment was £26.81, but the most frequent payment was only £10 a week [15].

Since the CSA, there has been no significant increase in the proportion of lone parents receiving child support.

The average weekly maintenance for current cases in February 1997 was £32.16.

95% of parents with care, dealt with by the CSA, are female and 74% receive Income Support [11].

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Housing

Single parent households in Scotland compared to two parent families are still much more dependant on rented housing and are more likely to live in a flat.

In 1999 only 25% of single parents lived in owner occupied housing, compared to 71% of two parent families.
6% rented from private landlords (compared to 3% of two parents), with the remainder renting from the local authority/Scottish Homes (55%) and other Housing Associations (13%) compared to 22% of two parent families.
Single parents also tend to move more than two parent families, with 41% having lived in their present home for 2 years or less, compared to 24% of two parent families.

Although the majority of single parents (74%) rate their neighbourhood as very good or fairly good, this is a lower level of satisfaction than two parent families (91%).

This is reinforced by the fact that single parents are almost twice as likely as two parent households to experience problems such as groups of young people hanging about (50%), rubbish or litter lying around (45%), people drinking or using drugs (44%), vandalism, graffiti and property damage (35%) and noisy neighbours (20%).

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Education and Training

Half the lone parents in a large scale DSS survey had no educational qualifications, compared with 38% of all women aged 25-49.
Of all the unemployed lone parents in the same survey, 76% had no vocational training [6].

In Scotland 5% of female parents were in Further or Higher Education in 1999, compared to 3% of women in two parent families [2].

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Employment

38% of lone mothers in Scotland worked in 1999 (15% full-time) [2], compared to 82% in France and 70% in Sweden [13].

Lack of affordable, high quality child care is one of the key reasons for relatively low employment rates. Under Working Families Tax Credit, lone parents working at least 16 hours and using registered childcare may be able to get help with 70% of their childcare costs up to a maximum of £100 weekly for 1 child and £150 for 2 or more children.

Lone parents' chances of finding and keeping jobs are much greater if they have children above five, have one or two children, are over 35 years, are owner occupiers, are divorced, have educational qualifications and receive maintenance [6].

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