Summary
There are nearly three million single parent families in the UK, which is 15% of all families. Their finances are often tight and they face a particularly high risk of poverty compared with other households.
Louise Cooper and guests talk to single parents about the financial challenges brought about by coronavirus and we have experts on hand to offer advice and answer questions.
Panel:
Victoria Benson, CEO of Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families. Lee Healey, founder of Income Max, an organisation that helps maximise family incomes through a service that guides access to unclaimed benefits
Email your experiences and questions to moneybox@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Louise Cooper Producers: Ben Carter and Eleanor Layhe Editor: Emma Rippon
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism. |
| 0:09.0 | In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero? |
| 0:16.0 | Simply doing your job, being a decent human being. |
| 0:20.0 | A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by |
| 0:23.1 | their own light and that light is to be recognised by others. The long history of heroism |
| 0:27.8 | with me, Rory Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello, I'm Louise Cooper and welcome to the download of Moneybox Live, the programme about your money. |
| 0:43.3 | There are nearly 3 million single-parent families in the UK and most work. |
| 0:49.4 | Lockdown has generally made their lives more difficult, with grandparents unable to help, |
| 0:54.9 | nursery and childminders closed, and co-parents often unable to share childcare. |
| 1:00.8 | And for some single parents, there's the added complication of working from home |
| 1:04.8 | whilst trying to home school. |
| 1:08.0 | The economic turmoil also likely to hit single parents hardest financially, as many |
| 1:13.8 | are in a vulnerable position to start with. So this week's Moneybox Live is looking at the challenges |
| 1:19.1 | such families face in this economic crisis. So please email Moneybox at BBC.com.uk or tweet at Moneybox to get in touch with your stories, |
| 1:31.0 | your questions and your experiences. Well, let's hear first from Shantay. Shantay, welcome to |
| 1:38.2 | Moneybox Live. Hello. Hello. Now, you are working full-time at the same time as looking after your four-year-old daughter, Hyatt. So tell us, how is that going? |
| 1:52.3 | It's a bit of a challenge to say the least at the moment. You know, we're balancing, you know, doing, obviously working from home and also, you know, doing |
| 2:03.3 | activities, keeping out occupied in whatever way that I can. And you're trying to potty train |
| 2:09.1 | her as well during lockdown? I am indeed. And that is interfering at all in your working or is okay? |
| 2:19.6 | I mean, it is interfering. |
| 2:21.2 | One particular Zoom call, she ran across the room with no pants on at all, screaming, |
| 2:27.2 | Mommy, I need the toilet. |
... |
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