One Parent Families Scotland response to Poverty in Scotland 2025

On 6 October, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation released its Poverty in Scotland 2025 report, highlighting the urgent action needed to tackle poverty across the country.

06/10/2025

News

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Poverty in Scotland 2025, published today, 6 October, 2025, provides a stark, urgent reminder: single-parent families continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty. As the national voice for single parents in Scotland, we welcome this report not simply as evidence, but as a mandate for change.

 

As sole carers and breadwinners for their families, single parents are working hard to give their children the best start in life, but low pay, inflexible jobs and unaffordable childcare make that impossible for too many.

- Satwat Rehman, OPFS Chief Executive

Key observations from the report

  • Nearly one in three children in single-parent families are living in poverty (2021–24).
  • Among children in single-parent families in poverty, more than half have no parent in work.
  • Single parents face a higher reliance on low‐income benefits: 8 in 10 children in single-parent households receive Universal Credit or equivalent.
  • Single parents are more exposed to the pressures of housing costs; although housing is not the primary driver of poverty for single parents, it takes up a disproportionately large share of their income.

The report also highlights that many “priority families” overlap: single parents often experience compounding forms of disadvantage (e.g. being a lone parent of a child with disability, or caring responsibilities) that make their situations more complex.

OPFS Chief Executive, Satwat Rehman said:

“The Poverty in Scotland 2025 report confirms what we have known for far too long: poverty in single parent families is not about individual choices, it’s about systemic barriers. As sole carers and breadwinners for their families, single parents are working hard to give their children the best start in life, but low pay, inflexible jobs and unaffordable childcare make that impossible for too many.

“The report shows that nearly 1 in 3 children in single parent families are growing up in poverty and 8 in 10 rely on low income benefits. Behind those numbers are parents skipping meals, children missing out on opportunities and families constantly juggling impossible choices between rent, heating and food. Most rely on social security not because they don’t want to work, but because the work available simply doesn’t pay enough to live on.

If the Scottish Government is serious about meeting its child poverty targets, it must listen to single parents and ensure incomes cover the basics, childcare works for single parent households and jobs recognise the realities of doing it all alone. Every child deserves the stability and security that come when their parent is properly supported to both care and provide for their families.”

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