Charity refutes Cameron stance

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16/10/07 One Parent Families|Gingerbread today challenged David Cameron to set out how he would help children in one parent families to escape poverty, and refuted suggestions that the tax and benefit system was encouraging families to separate.

Office for National Statistics figures published earlier this month show the proportion of families who are lone parents has increased by less than one per cent over the past ten years.

Chief Executive of the charity Chris Pond said:

"If David Cameron is serious about tackling child poverty he needs to set out how he will help all children, not just those living with both parents. Half of children in one-parent families are poor, and are in urgent need of the £4billion that the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has said will be necessary to meet the 2010 target to halve child poverty. Figures produced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies show that investing this in tax credits and benefits for all children would be around three times as effective as giving more money only to couple families."

"Figures produced by the Office for National Statistics last week refute the suggestion that the tax and benefit system is encouraging families to separate, showing that the proportion of families headed by a lone parent has grown by less than one per cent in the last ten years. We know that the countries with low poverty levels aren't those that have no lone parents but those that invest in all children; Denmark has the same level of lone parenthood as the UK but some of the lowest child poverty rates in Europe. As a member of the Campaign to End Child Poverty we want to see all political parties commit to investment in all children - not just those in some family types."

Notes to editors:

For further information please call Jane Ahrends on 020 7428 5416.

One Parent Families|Gingerbread is the national charity supporting one parent families in England and Wales. The charity has been formed from the merger of One Parent Families and Gingerbread.

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics on 4th October 2007 show that the proportion of lone parent families increased by less than one per cent between 1996 and 2006. Further information is available here: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1865

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