The ALLIANCE has signed a joint letter on the Young Parent Penalty
- Area of Work: The ALLIANCE
- Type: News Item
- Published: 10th June 2021
The cross-party letter calls for an end of the Young Parent Penalty in Universal Credit.
The ALLIANCE has signed a cross-party letter to Thérèse Coffey, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, calling for an end to the Young Parent Penalty in Universal Credit.
Before Universal Credit was introduced, single parents under 25 were able to claim social security benefits at the rate available for all people aged 25 and over. However, Universal Credit removed that exemption meaning that people under 25 are entitled to a lower allowance of benefits than people aged 25 and over. This means that young single parent families are up to £66.13 worse off per month under Universal Credit compared with the previous system. This is a drop of around 20% in financial support.
There are 1.8 million single parents in the UK – around 90% of whom are women. Nearly half of all children in lone-parent families in the UK are living in poverty, and research in the last year has found lone parents are “more reliant on local jobs, and are more likely to have struggled with childcare during lockdown” (this link will take you away from our website). It is therefore vital that necessary support is put in place for lone parent families.
The ALLIANCE is among over 100 civil society organisations, MPs, MSPs and academics who have signed a letter urging Thérèse Coffey to end the Young Parent Penalty and extend the allowance to claimants of Universal Credit.
You can read the full letter via the link below.
End of page.
You may also like:
Social prescribing - Enhancing lives through dance health.
Continue readingRead on for our top 10 ways to get involved in Self Management Week 2025.
Continue readingThe 2025 edition of the annual State of Caring Survey is open until 10 August 2025.
Continue readingFind out more about the 31 projects that are being funded through the latest round of the Self Management Fund.
Continue readingThe UKPPLAB are running a series of four webinars over the summer to ask questions and have open discussions with their board members.
Continue readingScotland's national walking and wheeling charity has announced it has rebranded signaling a commitment to making Scotland more active.
Continue readingScottish Union of Supported Employment (SUSE) are developing an app for disabled people in employment.
Continue readingThe Working Together for change programme delivered by In Control Scotland is highly valuable to advance health and social care integration.
Continue readingKidney Care UK have published a new report revealing the significant social and emotional toll of living with kidney disease.
Continue readingEASE is an app for disabled people in employment. The app will connect disabled employees to support and resources.
Continue readingALISS has undergone some changes to improve accessibility and user experience. And, you can now subscribe to the ALISS newsletter too!
Continue readingPublication of visual resource in support of the Scottish Government's Women's Health Plan
Continue readingThe ALLIANCE publishes paper on supporting digital inclusion in primary care
Continue readingSara Redmond, ALLIANCE Chief Officer, speaks ahead of the final vote on the Care Reform Bill.
Continue readingMSPs should vote in favour of the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill, but transformational change in social care remains an urgent priority.
Continue readingApplications are now open for the next cohort of the Digital Health and Care Leadership Programme.
Continue readingALLIANCE members had their say on the development of Scotland's Service Renewal Framework.
Continue readingShare your views on how proposals to regulate non-surgical cosmetic procedures might impact you.
Continue readingFind out more about two accredited courses ran by Nutrition Scotland on diet, health, and wellbeing.
Continue readingPhase 2 of the FORTH2O Commissioning Fund is open and inviting applications until 4 July.
Continue readingIf you utilise NHS Inform as part of your job or work role, could you please share your views and experiences via the online survey.
Continue readingWe have extended the deadline for nominations to the Self Management Awards to 10am Wednesday 18 June.
Continue readingRead about our pre-conference webinar where experts discussed how austerity has reduced UK life expectancy and called for urgent action.
Continue readingFind out more about the DEAP and how you can apply.
Continue readingNew film shows how staff at Ninewells Hospital use “What matters to you?” to improve care.
Continue reading