‘It’s hard getting money to stretch’: single mothers say they need support

theguardian.com:

Kelly Ross, a single mother to her three-year-old son Charlie, has just found out her energy bills are tripling in price, from £94 a month to £292.

With summer holidays on the horizon, there’s not much left in the pot for anything other than essentials, and she finds it hard to escape the constant burden of money worries.

“I think I’m glad that my son is this young at the minute because he doesn’t really know that we’re missing out on things,” the 39-year-old says. “It’s hard getting the money to stretch and still trying to give your child a life for him to look back at with fond memories.”

As she speaks, her son Charlie zooms around Littlethorpe village hall on a trike while other parents and children play and chat. This is her one weekly respite, a free group for struggling parents in the area run by the Leicestershire-based charity Home-Start Horizons.

“Nobody judges. If one day you want to come in crying, they’ll just make you a tea and give you a hug,” she says.

Mothers like Ross are facing a bleak winter. Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies revealed this week how a decade of austerity, during which vital benefits have been frozen or cut, has resulted in child poverty in single-parent households rising by almost 10% – compared with only 2% for two-parent families. Half of all children being raised by one parent are now in relative poverty.

It was through the charity that Ross met fellow single mum Jade Robinson, a 30-year-old part-time nursery nurse also caring for her four-year-old son.

Robinson says that while all parents will be struggling with rising costs, for single parents the responsibility can be crippling.

“As a single working mum, it’s very difficult,” she says. “I guess some single parents have their