Single Parent Rights
Single Parent Rights exists to end discrimination towards single parent families in the UK. Our core campaign is calling on the UK government to add single parents as a protected characteristic to the Equality Act. #SingleParentRights
We also conduct research into discriminatory policies and undertake campaigns and advocacy work to improve the situation for single parent families. Our current campaigns focus on ending discrimination in childcare access and social security policies. You can watch our Founder, Ruth Talbot, giving evidence on work conditionality at the Work and Pensions Committee here.
Single Parent Rights are the leading single parent voice fighting systemic discrimination. Led by single parents, for single parents, we were established during the first UK lockdown in 2020 when the fast-paced policy-making environment highlighted how single parents are consistently overlooked by policy-makers, employers and businesses. Read our manifesto for single parents to learn more about what we are calling for.
Our Track Record
Our first campaign success came when we lobbied Number Ten to introduce support bubbles in the first UK national lockdown in 2020. Since then the campaign has amassed the support of over twenty UK organisations, had motions of support passed by three local councils (Southwark, Hackney and Norwich), Unison’s North West Women’s Forum, Birmingham University and College Union branch, and the Clyde Labour Party CLP. We have also gained significant coverage across national and regional media and have the backing of a number of politicians. Our research report has opened up a new area of discourse surrounding single parent families and we have presented our findings at Oxford and Chester University. We take a collaborative approach and have coordinated lobbying activities around the 30 hours Universal Credit rule with over 70 organisations in the sector. We are also a member of the End Child Poverty coalition.
Join the Fight
Whether you’re a single parent or not, you can join the fight for single parent equality by taking action and keeping up with the campaign on twitter @SglParentRights or Instagram and Facebook @SingleParentRights
Our groundbreaking research found that 80% of single parents face discrimination. Download our survey results or read the full report as featured in The Guardian.
You can find out more about the campaign here or click on the icons below to join our movement for change.
