IT’S 11am on a rainy Thursday and one busy playground is lined with buggies where pre-school aged children are playing.
Just beyond the swings a group of parents have gathered, chatting amongst themselves whilst keeping a watchful eye as their sons and daughters dash between the climbing frame and slide.
Single mum Phoebe Smith, 21, believes the ‘single mum capital of the UK’ is a hot spot for “dumping single mums and giving them no support”[/caption]
Shekera Williams, 25, says that her experience of being a single mum in the area is “just trying to make do”[/caption]
Charities are working tirelessly to support struggling single mums and their children[/caption]
But one thing stands out here – there’s no men in this playground just off Lewisham high street, only women.
This pocket of South East London is home to some of the most densely populated areas of single parent families in the country – as much as 71% in some neighbourhoods, according to latest Census.
There are claims by some that this area has become a “dumping ground” for women raising children alone.
The London borough has a population just shy of 300,000, and many locals see it as the ‘single mum capital of the UK’.
The figures speak for themselves.
In the Lewisham North constituency, 47% of families with children are headed up by a lone-parent, as are 44% in neighbouring Lewisham East, an FOI request found.
The closest soft play centre lies four miles away, so even in freezing, damp January weather, Lewisham’s outdoor parks are full.
The playground is free, something which is welcomed by the women here as many of them are struggling to make ends meet.
Local baby banks, which supply struggling mothers with essentials like clothes, formula and toiletries, are inundated with requests.
The living conditions for these women who are raising their children independently can be bleak.
Single mum Phoebe Smith, 21, spent all of last year in mould-riddled temporary accommodation in Lewisham.
The Contract Support Administrator was born and raised in nearby Southwark alongside her two younger siblings, and her parents split when she was 12-years-old.
She welcomed her daughter in August 2023, but wasn’t with the dad.
Phoebe was living in her mum’s flat alongside her siblings when Isbaella was a newborn. But due to severe overcrowding, she had to leave.
Single mum Phoebe spent all of last year in mould-riddled temporary accommodation in Lewisham[/caption]
She was allocated temporary accommodation in Lewisham in January 2024 – an area of London she wasn’t familiar with – by Southwark council due to lack of availability in the area.
“I know two other single mums from my area who were just fobbed off in Lewisham,” Phoebe says. “It’s like they just drop us here in hope we’ll become somebody else’s problem.”
She has also heard of other London councils doing the same, and believes Lewisham is a hot spot for “dumping single mums and giving them no support”.
Meanwhile, supermarkets up and down Lewisham high street are sold out of nappies, and some aisles are so packed full with buggies whilst mums shop that it’s hard to pass through.
I know two other single mums from my area who were just fobbed off in Lewisham. It’s like they just drop us here in hope we’ll become somebody else’s problem
Phoebe Smith
Phoebe’s third-floor bedsit didn’t have a secure front door and was riddled with mould in the hallway, where she had to leave Isabella’s pram every night as she couldn’t carry it up the stairs alone.
“There were many nights I’d just sit in the room and cry my eyes out,” she says. “I felt hopeless and didn’t know how it was going to get better.”
Phoebe had to return to work from maternity leave early after finding her Universal Credit benefits didn’t stretch far enough to keep her afloat in a brand new area.
Due to the prevalence of working single mums, there is a gender pay gap that swings in women’s favour, according to the Lewisham Council Annual Employment Profile for 2023.
Single Parent Facts and Figures
Single parent charity Gingerbread is fighting to create a society where all single parents and their children thrive. These are the organisation’s latest figures on single parenthood…
- There are two million single parents with dependent children in the UK, 89% of which are headed up by single mums
- A depressing 44% of children in single parent families are in poverty compared to 26% in couple families
- Around 13% of single parent households with dependent children used a food bank in the last 12 months compared to 3% of couple households with dependent children
- Less than 1% of single parents are teenagers, and this continues to decline – with the average age of a single parent in the UK being 39-years-old
- Research found that 36% of single parent families with dependent children have no savings, compared to 17% of couple families with dependent children
Women are paid more than their male counterparts throughout the borough. For every £1 earned by men, women receive 11 pence more.
But the numbers jar with what’s happening at ground level.
Despite the important role women play in Lewisham’s workforce, figures show that a startling amount of single mums in the borough are living in poverty, with 33% of children living below the poverty line, according to the 2021 Consensus.
After a year of what she describes as “torture”, Phoebe was allocated new temporary accommodation closer to her family and friends in Southwark in January this year.
Single mum Shekera Williams, 25, is raising her twin daughters, seven, in a hostel after having to leave her 61-year-old deaf mum’s overcrowded flat[/caption]
This vicious cycle of ‘in-work poverty’ is something fellow single mum Shekera Williams knows all too well, having been raised by a single mum and then becoming one herself.
The 25-year-old, who is Lewisham born-and-bred, is raising her twin daughters Nyla and Milan, seven, in a hostel after having to leave her 61-year-old deaf mum’s overcrowded flat.
She co-parents with her daughters’ dad but has to work two jobs – one in a bar and another as a learning support assistant for young people with learning difficulties – to make ends meet.
“I fell pregnant in my last year of college but was never in a relationship with my daughters’ dad,” Shekera says. “My experience of being a single mum in Lewisham is having no other choice but to make do.”
My experience of being a single mum in Lewisham is having no other choice but to make do
Shekera Williams
She was moved into the hostel towards the end of 2023 but feels grateful for the move, as she says it has given her a “sisterhood” with the fellow single mums who live beside her.
The hostel, which is a short bus ride from Lewisham centre, is home to around 18 other single mums and their children, a number of which Shekera says have been housed there by neighbouring councils.
“Living with other single mums has made my life easier,” Shekera says. “I’m someone who’s been through a lot and I connect with people who have gone through the same struggle.
“All of the mums in my hostel have an amazing story – some are young, some are older, some are even from a different country.”
Childrens’ parks in Lewisham are busy all year round, even in damp January weather[/caption]
Shekera continues: “We’re a sisterhood. We cry together, we laugh together and we even tell each other off.
“It’s not easy being a single mum but us being here together is keeping us all going.
“All of our children love each other so much, so it’s hard to even close the door sometimes.”
When Shekera needs milk or sugar, she knows one of her neighbours will lend some out without hesitation.
We’re not scared to go it alone because we have each other to lean on
Shekera Williams
She thinks sisterhood is why there are so many single mums in Lewisham.
“We’re not scared to go it alone because we have each other to lean on,” Shekera says.
This sense of community is also at the heart of baby banks operating in the area, such as MammaKind, which offers valuable support to struggling families.
It was co-founded by PR whizz Kirsty Lowe and business support expert Kelly Fort in 2019, and provides essentials from nappies to prams for those with children aged five and under.
Kirsty Lowe and Kelly Fort are the founders of MammaKind baby bank in Lewisham and work closely with single mums in the area[/caption]
The majority of the families it supports are headed by a single mother, according to the charity.
Figures for 2023 reveal that 64% of the families who accessed MammaKind’s services had single parents at the helm, though Kirsty anticipates this number to be higher in 2024.
The average MammaKind starter package, which is offered to single mums free of charge, would cost £1,700 in total if bought brand new.
It includes prams, clothes, vests, nappies and some hygiene products for mum.
How would someone claiming benefits, or with no recourse to public funds, be able to afford that? It’s just completely unattainable for so many mum
Kirsty Lowe
Kirsty says this is out of reach for mums in the Lewisham area.
“How would someone claiming benefits, or with no recourse to public funds, be able to afford that? It’s just completely unattainable for so many mums,” says Kirsty.
Kelly adds: “Dignity is at the heart of everything we do. We’d never give a mum something we wouldn’t be happy with our own children having.”
The volunteers at MammaKind recall helping a young, single mum who was living in Lewisham high street’s Travelodge for over a year with her disabled son.
MammaKind has volunteers that work tirelessly to support single mums in the area[/caption]
Despite his complex needs, the mum was allegedly moved to a different room in the hotel every two weeks.
It’s a sad situation that MammaKind faces.
Most of the vulnerable mums they help are referred to them by midwives and family services.
However, the charity is currently piloting a face-to-face programme for single mums to drop in without a referral and pick up what they need, when they need it.
So many single parents are forced to make impossible decisions every day, just so they can afford basic living costs
Sarah Lambert
Kirsty and Kelly urged fellow mums to donate baby clothes, toys and gadgets they no longer need to their local baby bank.
You can find your nearest centre through the interactive Baby Bank Map.
There are more than three million single-parent families in the UK, and 89% are headed up by a single mum, according to research from Gingerbread, a charity which supports single parent families.
Nationwide, 44% of children in these families are living in poverty, according to Gingerbread’s figures.
There are over three million single-parent families in the UK, and 89% are headed up by a single mum[/caption]
The charity is now calling for the government to make ‘serious’ improvements to the support given to lone parents.
Sarah Lambert, Head of Policy, says: “Our research shows that too many separated parents are going without food and heating and still being pushed into debt because a single household income simply doesn’t stretch far enough.
“We have been told time and again that this government is having to make difficult decisions to protect our economy.
“This will be all too familiar to so many single parents who are forced to make impossible decisions every day, just so they can afford basic living costs.
“If this government is genuinely committed to tackling child poverty, then we need to see the Child Maintenance Service reformed so that it works for the parents who use it and the children it is designed to support.”
Lewisham council declined to comment.
