Summary
Single parents often face particular financial hardships, especially with the economy facing severe challenges and prices rising so fast. A single parent with no support can find it harder to get work, more expensive to find childcare and difficult to provide the basics needed for family life. In today's Money Box Live, Adam Shaw hears from listeners about the challenges and options available to single parent families. We also hear from Victoria Benson, the Chief Executive of Gingerbread, the national charity which works with single parent families, and from Claire Reindorp, CEO of the Young Women’s Trust.
Producers: Paul Waters and Drew Hyndman
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one. |
| 0:06.5 | I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:11.2 | I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects, |
| 0:16.0 | relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life. |
| 0:22.4 | So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature, |
| 0:28.3 | and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience, and maybe that's you. |
| 0:33.6 | So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:39.5 | BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:44.2 | Welcome to this download of Moneybox Live, the programme about your money. |
| 0:49.1 | There are 1.8 million single parents in the UK, many of them have been hit particularly hard by the current economic downturn and the cost of living crunch. |
| 0:59.1 | A recent survey claimed that over half of single mothers have gone without a meal so their children can eat. |
| 1:05.7 | While in this Moneybox Live podcast, we're looking at the specific financial challenges faced by single parents |
| 1:12.0 | and what help there is available. First of all, we spoke to Geneva, who told us a little bit |
| 1:17.9 | about her situation. So I am a single mum of two young children. I have two sons who are |
| 1:24.8 | seven and four. I currently don't work, so I currently receive universal |
| 1:30.4 | credit and child benefits to survive on and run a home and raise two kids with, which is |
| 1:39.0 | extremely difficult. I'm also gluten-free, so I have to live a gluten-free diet because I'm intolerant to it, |
| 1:47.1 | which I find I face more difficulty in managing to afford meals for myself. |
| 1:55.9 | And you say you don't work? |
| 1:57.8 | Is that because you've been unable to find work or because of your |
| 2:00.8 | childcare responsibilities, that's just not an option? Due to the childcare. It's very |
| 2:08.4 | difficult to find a job within school times and I was working up until December but due to |
... |
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