Lone parenthood is often accompanied by additional pressures and anxieties arising from the practical challenge of dealing with childcare, finances, housing, work opportunities and access issues. There are many valuable sources of support and information in all of these areas.
National Council for One Parent Families
An organisation set up in 1918 concerned with the support and welfare of lone parents and their children. They represent the interests of lone parents in the political arena, shaping such policies as the government’s New Deal for Lone Parents. Consult their factsheets or call their helpline (freephone ) for further information.
One Parent Families Scotland (OPFS)
A highly informative site with an excellent range of practical factsheets, pages of FAQs and a thoughtful children’s book guide.
Helpline:
Gingerbread is a charity dedicated to giving practical and emotional support to lone parents. Call their Advice Line (freephone ) for details of local support groups or guidance on any issue relating to lone parenthood. You can also consult their Lone Parents’ Handbook online.
Gingerbread Northern Ireland
Gingerbread Scotland Telephone: /7976
If you have become a lone parent through separation, divorce or bereavement you may also wish to see our sections on these subjects.
SUPPORT
Support in many forms is available online, from practical advice on parenting issues to information about counselling. To find the relevant local agencies contact the National Council for One Parent Families Lone Parent Helpline () or fill in your details online for a print-out in the ‘Local Agencies Info Request’ section.
Parentline Plus provides information and support to families and operates a national freephone helpline ) for parents and carers in stressful situations.
National Family and Parenting Institute provides information on a range of parenting issues.
Homestart is a family support charity helping families with more than one child under five.
If you think you or your child might benefit from counselling see our section on Counsellors and Therapists.
The National Council for the Divorced & Separated runs counselling centres in several regions. Telephone: .
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s Child Protection Helpline now offers a service via e-mail as well as by telephone.
Contact a Family ) is a national registered charity dedicated to helping families who care for children with a disability or special need. They help by providing information about disabilities; putting families in touch with other families with disabled children; helping parents to develop their own local or national support groups; campaigning on behalf of families with disabled children.
CONTACT AND ACCESS
If there are unresolved contact issues with the other parent of your child, you might find it helpful to contact the Children’s Legal Centre, an organisation that provides free advice and information.
The Gingerbread factsheet takes a practical look at this often complex issue.
The National Association of Child Contact Centres provides locations where your child can have contact with the other parent under the supervision of a third party, without need for any contact between you and the other parent. The NACCC is reachable on or via e-mail.
The Grandparents' Association is a campaigning organisation for grandparents, running a helpline with advice and support in issues such as contact problems on .
SHARED PARENTING
There is much evidence to suggest that children benefit from spending a significant amount of time with each parent following a separation or divorce rather than being cared for principally by one parent.
Shared Parenting Information Group (SPIG) UK
Promotes responsible shared parenting after separation/divorce and acts as a resource for information and research on the subject for all concerned.
Families Need Fathers provides a guide to shared parenting and a range of advice on legal and other issues facing fathers and mothers who are separated or divorced.
CHILDCARE
Without the security of good, reliable childcare, it may be difficult to carry on your work or start exploring new career or study opportunities. Sharing the care of your child with a professional adult whose company your child enjoys and whom you feel you can trust may also help to relieve some of the pressure of lone parenting. See our section on Childcare.
The Gingerbread site details how to find and pay for registered childcare. One Parent Families Scotland produces a childcare factsheet as well.
THE JOB MARKET
Family friendly employment is a concept that pulls together all the involved parties - employers, employees and agencies - in order to create an easier and mutually beneficial way of working. Schemes may include flexible working arrangements, jobshares, workplace nurseries, etc. Find out more from the Islington Women’s Equality Unit site.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) offers help with new businesses, but you will need to visit your local Jobcentre Plus office for details.
Working Families is a valuable source of information about childcare, working rights and benefits. They offer free legal advice to lone parents ).
If you are thinking of employment opportunities, the Government’s New Deal initiative is designed to help lone parents who want to work. The DWP and your local Jobcentre Plus Office can advise you about which benefits you are entitled to. They include Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Back to Work Bonus, Child Maintenance Bonus, Jobseeker's Allowance, Lone Parent Benefit Run On and Extended Payment of Housing Benefit.
Under the scheme you will be allocated an adviser who will discuss training needs and work possibilities with you. Since April 2001, the DWP has made available an extra payment for lone parents who take up training for work and help towards childcare costs if the hours are less than 16 hours per week.
The Inland Revenue runs a Tax Credit Helpline on . One Parent Families Scotland publishes a factsheet, ‘Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit for Lone Parents’ which explains the changes in effect from 6 April 2003 (you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader toit, which you can download here).
Gingerbread have more details of these benefits in their ‘Back to Work’ factsheet.
HONING YOUR SKILLS
If you wish to continue your education, or acquire new skills in order to pursue a different line of work, the Department for Education and Skills has a useful adult learning site with links to adult learning sites in Scotland and Wales (the Parent’s Gateway may well also be of interest). Visit your local library or the ‘Floodlight’ website (London area only) for details of adult education courses.
EdUK is an online educational advisory service which has a map of all the universities in the UK and will allow you to link to those nearest to you for information about current courses. If home study seems more realistic, explore the options on the University website or take a look at the list of correspondence courses offered by BSY Group which include alternative medicine, management studies, physical fitness and writing skills.
The Learndirect site provides free, confidential, independent advice, as well as education and training courses. It also runs a National Helpline on and gives information on funding grants and trusts and help with childcare.
Gingerbread, a charity set up by lone parents to help other lone parents, works with the government and various groups in providing training for lone parents. The Gingerbread Advice Line is on freephone .
Gingerbread Northern Ireland also offers a number of schemes for training to get lone parents back to work.
Contact Gingerbread Scotland at 1014 Argyle Street, Glasgow G3 8LX. Telephone: /7976.
There are a number of schemes devised to support adult learners. If you are already in full-time education or plan to apply for a full time course, the DfES’s site sets out the financial help available to lone parents, most of which does not require repayment. It includes Childcare, Lone Parent and Dependents’ Grants; assistance with travel, books etc.; Access bursaries and Hardship loans.
There are various educational trusts you can approach for a grant. One Parent Family Scotland provides a list of UK and Scottish trusts as well as an excellent page on education and training geared to lone parents.
YOUR HEALTH
If you feel that the pressures involved in raising children and running a household single-handed are beginning to take their toll on your health and well-being, or you are trying find a way of incorporating exercise and relaxation into your life, take a look at the health and leisure offerings in your local area.
MIND is a charity committed to relieving mental distress and mental health problems. The MindinfoLine offers guidance on different types of mental distress and where to go for help. It ison Mondays through Friday from 9:15am to 5:15 pm on . They have an extensive selection of publications about mental health issues as well as their own award-winning booklets. These include a number of short guides on Managing Stress, Physical Activity and Yoga. All can be ordered online from their bookshop.
SANE aims to provide clear information about a range of mental health problems and the treatments that are available. Volunteers are available on SANELINE ) to answer queries and offer support to anyone experiencing or affected by a mental health crisis.
GETTING AWAY
There are a number of very good initiatives designed to give single parents some time off when they need it. Low cost holidays and holiday grants are also available. For information on holiday assistance see the Gingerbread site.
The National Council for One Parent Families publishes an annual booklet with contacts, suggestions and advice on holidays, house swaps, farm holidays, self-catering and general travel advice.
Holiday Endeavours for Lone Parents, or HELP, offers discount holidays in Britain and abroad. Contact HELP on .
One Parent Family Holidays provides holidays with up to 75% discount. Visit their website for more information.
BOOKS FOR CHILDREN
The National Council for One Parent Families produces a book list, which includes the title ‘Families Just Like Us’ with an introduction by author J. K. Rowling, featuring stories about one-parent families. OPFS also recommends books which deal with a range of situations affecting children in single parent families.
LEGAL ADVICE
See our section on Lawyers & Legal Advice.
The Children’s Legal Centre provides free legal advice on a variety of child-orientated legal issues.
The National Council for One Parent Families runs an information service for lone parents, other organisations, local authorities and the media. It also campaigns and lobbies to change the law and improve provisions for one-parent families. Helpline: freephone .
OPFS offers legal guidance for lone parents in Scotland (see the Legal Issues factsheet - you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader toit, which you can download here).
MANAGING YOUR FINANCES
If you are not used to taking responsibility for budgeting and financial decisions, the following guidance may be useful.
The National Council for One Parent Families produces a range of factsheets available free by post which address the key financial issues affecting lone parents, as well as a few additional leaflets that you can read online, including ‘Budget 2001 - what it means to one-parent families’, ‘Sources of Financial Support’ and ‘Coping at Christmas’. Call their Maintenance and Money Line (freephone ) for further information and guidance, particularly on the complex benefit system and Child Support Agency.
There are a number of sources of financial assistance available if you are on a low income. For details on what is available from the Department for Work and Pensions, see the ‘Managing on a Low Income’ page, which includes details of Budgeting Loans, and other pages including the DWP information on Social Fund Crisis Loans available in the case of a financial emergency.
The Government offers a number of health benefits which are worth knowing about. If you are on Income Support you can claim free school meals, milk and vitamins and are entitled to free prescriptions, dental treatment, optical treatment and reimbursement for any related travel. Pick up leaflet HC11 from the DWP, dentist, optician or hospital. Anyone receiving Working Tax Credit will also receive these benefits provided they meet the criteria.
Contact your local Education Department about school clothing grants and other help, including subsidised childcare places.
The OPFS ‘Money’ factsheets include a list of benefits available to lone parents in the UK, including those available to lone parents who are not working or working less than 16 hours a week:
Up until July 1998 Child Benefit was available at a higher rate for lone parent families. This higher rate is now only paid to claimants who have been receiving benefits since before that date. It is worth contacting the Citizens Advice Bureau if you think you may be entitled or consulting their Advice Guide under ‘benefits’.
ACCOMMODATION
If you are facing the possibility of having to sell your house or looking at how to meet the costs of moving or a setting yourself up in new property, the OPFS factsheets on housing look at the relevant issues.
EXPECTING A BABY ALONE
Our section on Maternity Rights and Benefits details the different benefits available according to your employment situation.
If you are not working for the last 11 weeks of your pregnancy, you may be able to claim Income Support. This will increase when the baby is born, provided you inform the Department for Work and Pensions. The current rates for income support for lone parents and dependent children are given on the DWP site. Contact your local social security office for more information.
The Maternity Alliance is an organisation providing information on maternity services and rights. Click on ‘Information’ for details. Telephone: .
One Parent Families Scotland has a useful factsheet called ‘On Your Own with a Baby’, which lists the important dates to remember if you intend to claim any maternity-related benefits. Contact them on or via e-mail to order a , free to lone parents.
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