Down the rabbit hole

The government’s punitive measures have made it harder to get out of poverty. And austerity is making it worse.

Austerity bites

Political rhetoric and featherweight policy solutions disguise the fact that single parents are among the biggest losers of the recession. The Women’s Budget Group found that single parents will lose 15.1 per cent of their disposable income to austerity policies.

The Lone Parent Trap

When Jen Smith’s employer went bust she lost control of a life she had spent 20 years building. It took only a few years for life to unravel. In three years Jen got just four interviews and no job. Soon she had to remortgage the one-bedroom flat she shares with her daughter.