Coronavirus lockdown heaping pressure on single parents in Mansfield and Ashfield

With schools closed, homes in lockdown and job insecurity rife, experts are warning these families will be hit hard by the outbreak.

There are around 1.8 million lone parents across the UK.

Across the East Midlands alone, there are 125,262 lone parent families with research revealing there are 2,401 in Mansfield and 4,244 in Ashfield.

The charity Gingerbread helps single mothers and fathers across England and Wales.

Victoria Benson, Gingerbread chief executive, said: “Most single parents can’t work from home.

“Even if you are paid to work from home, how can you work from home and do your job and look after your children at the same time?”

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak MP announced a raft of measures to support businesses and low income families, including an increase to the universal credit standard allowance and working tax credits.

However, charities have warned that a lack of support could further push cash-strapped families into poverty.

Satwat Rehman, director of the charity One Parent Families Scotland, said: “We need to ensure that authorities are considering the needs of single parents in their planning and prioritisation of services and to ensure our benefits system anchors us all from the rising tide of poverty.”