Squiffy Teddy Does… Single Parents
According to the Office for National Statistics, there are 1.9 million single parents in the UK. This makes up 23 per cent of UK families.
Despite this relatively high statistic – some may even say shocking – single parents are vilified. They face harassment, discrimination and insults on a daily basis – all whilst trying to do the job of two full time carers.
‘Although single mothers don’t automatically mean filthy ignorant feral underclass scum offspring, the vast majority of filthy ignorant feral underclass scum offspring spawn from single mothers.’ – Newspaper story comment
Only two-fifths of single parents receive financial help from their child’s non resident parent. Whilst 56.7 per cent of single parents are working, the average weekly income for a single parent is £404.52 compared to £618.44 for two parent families with only one person working. According to the Households Below Average Income analysis by the Department for Work and Pensions, the poverty rate for single parents was found to be 29 per cent for parents working part time and 21 per cent for parents working full time.
As children get older, the employment success rate for single parents with children over the age of twelve years is better. It’s even close to the same employment rate for mothers in couples. A whopping 71 per cent of single parents with a child aged 12 -15 years are not sitting on their backside with a coffee and smoke watching Jeremy Kyle. According to an analysis of the Labour Force Survey from 2009 and produced for single parent charity Gingerbread they are out working.
Disability also hits single parent families, with 36 per cent of unemployed single parents having a disability and 30 per cent having a child with a disability.
‘We didn’t fight two world wars to have the country brought to it’s knees by immigrants, minorities and single parents.’ story comment
During the 1940s, many fathers were absent from their families because they were in service. Some came home safely to meet children who had been born in their absence and raised over the years by their mother. Effectively a single parent. Some children did not meet their fathers until they were four years of age. Some fathers were killed in action and never came home.
Since then, many hundreds more British soldiers have been killed in conflict over the years including Northern Ireland, the Falklands, Afghanistan and Iraq. There will be those who leave behind a widow, a family – a single parent family.
‘I have observed ‘young girls’ pushing buggies, pregnant, smoking, and chatting to their equally young friends, pushing their buggies. They have never worked, probably have no intention of ever working’ story comment
Whilst the number of single parent families has increased from 8 per cent since 1971, the number of psychic people in the UK has also steadily increased.
‘They all smoke, drink have 42 inch plasma televisions and go on holiday abroad twice a year. They can even afford boob jobs from the tax credits they get…’ Comments like these are common place across the internet. Trespass and burglary must be the way that these people find out their information about what people on benefits own in their home. Perhaps backed up with some psychic ability to make the statement that single parents have no intention of ever working.
When it comes to the young mums, the Families and Children Study data for 2005 found that just 2 per cent of single parents are teenagers, with the average age of a single parent being in comparison, a vintage 36.9 years of age.
OK, so how much for a cheap 42 inch plasma TV? £350.53 with free delivery from Amazon UK. Affordable on benefits with many weeks sacrifice if that is what the family wants. Hardly an amount of money worth stringing the family up in the front garden of their ‘sink’ council estate is it?
‘The feckless lazy workshy get everything handed to them on a plate. Take their benefits away from them, they get too much.’ story comment
Bristol single parent Michelle spoke to Chopsy Baby about the benefits she receives as a single parent. Michelle has two children, Olivia (5) and Jamie (9 months)
Michelle receives:
Child Tax Credits
Child Benefit
Income Support
Local Housing Allowance
Council Tax Benefit.
Michelle says: “It may sound like a lot of money, but before I had Jamie I was working and in a relationship. Things broke down and no matter how much you want to raise your children in a stable family, you can’t make a man stay if he doesn’t want to. Now I am living on benefits that are a pittance compared to working.
“There are no luxuries and no treats. I have to be very careful with heating, electricity and water, using less than we really need. My rent is much higher than the Local Housing Allowance – Housing Benefit – pays, but I can’t move. I can’t find any other landlords that accept housing benefit. Agencies won’t take you because you are on benefits. You are then left taking your chances with private landlords. If only those on their soap box went around and saw the state that some of these properties are in that rent out to DSS families it would be an eye opener. You wouldn’t board a dog there let alone allow a family in. They are death traps that should be condemned.
“People seem to think that single parents get council flats or houses. What a laugh. I am on the Bristol housing register in band five. This means I won’t get anything. I come at the bottom of the list. The last property I bid on was not in one of Bristol’s best areas and I came in at number 77. Obviously the bidder at the bottom of the pile.
“Although people say I should move out of an expensive city, I have lived in Bristol all of my life. I can’t move because I can’t just uproot my child out of school. It’s not a lifestyle choice to stay here. It’s my life, where I was born and grew up. I also can’t cancel the financial commitments I had before I was left a single parent simply because I am on benefits.”
Chopsy Baby reporter Debbie Adams, worked through Michelle’s benefits to work out how much money she gets monthly and how much of that is left once the bills and direct debits come out of the bank. Michelle was left with £10 a day to feed, clothe and provide for her family. Hardly the easy extravagant lifestyle that most working people come to expect single parents to live it up on.
‘It is mostly these non working, one parent families, that eventually produce scum the likes of Jamie McGrory’ story comment
When stories in the media involve shocking violence, the words ‘feral’, ‘chav’ and ‘single parent’ are always quick to trip off the keyboards of the armchair warriors.
If a headline said: Granny sent down for Scum style attack on bus driver shocker, it would only be about half an hour before the comments started rolling in:
Take Granny’s benefits off her
Single parent granny scum
I bet Granny sits on her arse all day watching her 42 inch plasma TV whilst smoking away the pension we give her and still pumping out feral brats.
Put Granny in care
Granny does naff all except watch Jeremy Kyle all day, I bet she’s a single parent!
Why should I go out and work hard all day just so I can pay for Granny’s lifestyle choice – make her go back to work and if Granny won’t, take away her benefits and chuck her in the street! Feral scum!
‘Why are they so picky about jobs? If they are that desperate they should get a job at McDonald’s’ story comment
Lynn, a 35 year old single mother of two children, explains to Chopsy Baby about her struggle to return to the work place. Not for a lack of trying, Lynn is a well educated person who can’t even get a job interview.
“Since the summer of 2010, I felt ready to go back to work. My oldest child is in school and my youngest was eight months old and I feel happy for him to go to nursery.
“Having worked all my life, I felt confident it would not be long until I got a job. Before having children, if I applied for a job I would at least get an interview. I could even be picky about the jobs I took as I would usually get offers for several.
“I am a graduate and have worked at management level.
“I have lost count of the number of jobs I have applied for. Occasionally, the recruiter would bother to get back to me with an email or letter thanking me for bothering to apply but they were sorry on this occasion.
“More often than not, I would not even get the acknowledgment of application or even rejection. Considering the number of hours that can go in making a CV and covering letter match to each application, I feel this is just rude.
“For each job I applied for, I also had to do plenty of research to make sure there was suitable childcare that I could afford and reach in plenty of time.
“Single parents and the unemployed get slated for not doing menial jobs, so I even applied for a job at McDonald’s. They said:
‘Thank you for applying for the position of Customer Care Assistant.
‘We’ve got a really rigorous selection process at McDonald’s and a large number of people apply to work with us each day. After careful consideration, we’re sorry to inform you that we won’t be inviting you to attend the next stage of our recruitment process.
‘With such a high number of applications received, unfortunately we’re unable to provide you with specific feedback on your application. Thanks for your interest in McDonald’s and we appreciate the time you have taken with your application, we’d like to wish you every success in the future.’
OK, so perhaps with my background I could aim a bit higher. I have applied for management jobs too. The only one who bothered to reply said:
‘Thank you for your recent application for the role of Assistant Manager. We did receive a large response to our advertisement and are sorry to inform you that on this occasion we have not short listed you for the next stage of the recruitment process.’
“I have looked into cleaning jobs and even dinner lady jobs. I have even considered setting up as a childminder, but my housing isn’t suitable for this at the moment.
“I wouldn’t mind doing a dinner lady job, but I have no one to look after my baby and I am not eligible for working tax credits and childcare.
Primary school advert for lunchtime staff
Part time (1.25 hours X 4 days per week)
Term-time only.
“This is why single parents are being so fussy. It’s not about dropping our standards or expectations, it’s just sometimes McDonald’s don’t want us to work for them or the school dinner lady jobs will leave us more out of pocket than not doing them. Working for pride doesn’t keep a roof over my family’s head.”
‘I am a single parent and I can work so other single parents should be able to work too’ story comment
Even networks of support and parenting forums can quickly turn into vitriolic rants against single parents, even by other single parents themselves. Whilst some single parents may have access to childcare, a supportive family and the right age children for the right working hours, this does not mean every single parent is so lucky.
Many single parents will also have additional extra needs, health issues, housing issues, finance issues, disabled children or even live somewhere isolated that they just don’t have the necessary support framework.
The ‘tough that’s life’ approach is not helpful and is not good in a society that could benefit from being more supportive, tolerant and empathetic.
When women become mothers, immediately their skill set increases. Juggling acts, multi-tasking, working under pressure, fast decision making and working alone are all talents that are enhanced by bringing up a baby. These are skills that understanding and flexible employers would benefit from, should they be able to make working hours more family friendly and look beyond the label of ‘parent’ and ‘single parent’.
Being a parent is a tough job. Being a single parent is so much harder. One person has the responsibility of bringing up one or more children alone, safely and successfully. They may be struggling to survive on one income whilst working or struggling to survive on benefits.
They are more politely referred to as lone parents, single parents or one parent families.
Squiffy Teddy concludes that they should be more appropriately labeled as Independent Parents. Mothers or fathers who do the very best job that they can mostly successfully, some brilliantly and all independently.
For further information, visit:
www.careforthefamily.org.uk/spf/
www.lone-parents.org.uk/links.htm
www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx