By Vineet Malik | June 15, 2021 | London, England
As many as 46 Members of Parliament from nine parties on Wednesday wrote an open letter to Therese Coffey, the Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to provide necessary support to more than 1.8 million single parents.
It is appalling that, half of children in single-parent families in the United Kingdom are living in poverty.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Poverty 2020/2021 report outlined the plight of single-parents who have been most vulnerable with childcare during lockdown that partially ended in April.
As a matter of fact, 1,75,000 single-parents below 25 years across the UK qualify to claim the lower standard allowance under the ambit of amended Universal Credit in contrast to the legacy system that proved to be well-heeled.
Consequently, the impact on the single-parents witnessed 20 percent reduction of claims from DWP.
“Age limit of 25 years or more defined as a prerequisite to claim higher rate of support towards cost of caring for a child is akin to ‘Young Parent Penalty’. We, the undersigned, urge you to End the ‘Young Parent Penalty’ and extend the allowance to claimants of Universal Credit”, says, MPs.
A parallel campaign run by One Parent Families, Scotland (OPFS) that provides single-parent tailored information, advice and family support received more than 550 signatures so far.
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