The single super-parent penalty

Victim, sponger, martyr... single mums have long been vilified and idealised and single dads romanticised in a way that coupled parents have never been. Despite huge changes in demographics - there are very few gen Z teen mums and two-thirds of single parents work - this group are still expected to do more with less than any other group of parents.

'Hard-working families'

There are eight million families with at least one dependent child living in the UK. And more 'hard-working families' - aka coupled parents with two salaries - than ever before rely on Universal Credit to top up their income. Over a decade since politicians coined this phrase and knee-deep in the 'cost of living' era, it's no longer about the hours put in or the profession.

While childcare costs have reduced in early years settings, 'top-up' fees, non-funded hours for care for under 5s, and wraparound care for school-age children is still extremely expensive. And jobs aren't flexible enough, even if they are meant to be in theory.

One in four

In this way, all sorts of families are in the same boat. Yet look closer and things start to unravel. One in four families are headed up by single parents; 89 percent being single mums, with a small but growing percentage - 15 percent - being single dads.

Single parents receiving financial support from the UK government must start working when their youngest child turns three. Two thirds of single parents work and receive Universal Credit (UC) to top up their income. Since October 2023, all lead parents - the parent of a couple receiving UC with the most responsibility for childcare - and all single parents - must be available for work for 30 hours a week. A family headed up by one parent is doing the practical work plus the mental load of a two-parent family, yet is expected to work the same hours as a lead parent in a couple. For many single parents of such small children, this expectation is debilitating.

The political party of the government in power is irrelevant: if coupled parents must be 'hard workers', then those families headed up by single parents are required to be super workers.

It's not an optional ideal nor is it motivational; it's a threat.

Claimant commitment

Every person who starts to receive Universal Credit must sign a 'Claimant Commitment' during their first appointment. There is only five hours difference in 'work commitments' between people with childcare responsibilities - 30 hours - and people without - 35.

During my first appointment my newly 3 year old was running around. Skim-reading what it said I queried the section where it said 'available to attend job interviews immediately'. I said I wasn't and I wouldn't be able to start work immediately either, given that my son had yet to start preschool. I also queried the number of hours I was expected to be available to work as my son was starting with just 9 hours of preschool a week to help him settle in. I was told not to worry and just to sign it.

At every appointment after that initial one, my claimant commitment was referred to again and again, with different work coaches each time telling me that 'my claimant commitment states that...' I took advice from Citizens Advice Buraeu (CAB), which advised that claimant commitments should be adapted according to their personal circumstances and responsibilities.

Even the government's own website says: "Not all parents of children over three are expected to work the maximum 30 hours a week, and parents can talk about their circumstances with a work coach to make sure the help is tailored to their unique situation."

I asked my work coach verbally and he refused to consider tailoring my Claimant Commitment. I then followed up by asking him in my journal after receiving the advice from the CAB. I was denied again. I wrote a complaint to the Job Centre about this but never sent it, to my regret. I remember thinking at the time it was better to keep my head down rather than be known as the one who makes a fuss. When I became self-employed and asked my - much more sympathetic - self-employment coach if he could change my claimant commitment as I couldn't work self-employed or not full-time, he also said no, and similarly told me 'not to worry about it'.

But this was terrible advice at best and insincere at worst because claimant commitments set out the conditions for each claimant for whether UC be paid or withheld. The exact wording in the commitments justifies any penalty threatened or carried through.

My experience is reflected in findings from the Welfare Conditionality Project (Johnsen and Blenkinsopp, 2018). Their research found inconsistencies in tailoring Claimant Commitments to people's varied personal circumstances. Despite a public inquiry opening into the findings, some eight years later and it is clear that nothing has changed.

What's the fuss

Being expected to be available to work or to work for 30 hours a week without claimant commitments is debilitating for many single parents for a multitude of practical reasons, like not having the time taken to take and collect children from childcare settings or schools into account, or school holidays - where there is no funding available to help pay for the cost of summer clubs. Or having to decide whether to attend Job Centre and other employment and training based workshops with children in tow or use this precious childfree work-search or working time instead. And a multitude of emotional reasons - like trying to cope with the grief, trauma and change from the end of a relationship - for both the parent and their children - all while job-searching, working or trying to find more work.