Fed, warm and loved
That is the job, and you are doing it. Everything after that is a bonus, not a standard you failed to hit.
Calling All Single Parents.
Look at what you're already building. This is a hand with the rest of it.
You are already the thing that holds it together.
Single mums run households, hold down work, do the school run, manage the money and still turn up at the nativity. This site exists to take a few of those jobs off you — not to tell you what you're doing wrong.
Every day
Every week
You make the decisions
No negotiating bedtime with anyone. The routines are yours, they work, and nobody gets to undo them on a Sunday.
Every year
They are watching you cope
Children raised by someone who keeps going learn that you keep going. That is not a consolation prize. It is the whole inheritance.
At home
Stuff to do at home with the kids.
Rainy-day rescue. Dens, baking, science that works with what's in the cupboard, and games that buy you twenty quiet minutes.
Making things
Arts projects for kids.
Painting, printing, junk modelling and collage, using materials you already have. Nothing here needs a craft cupboard or a perfect result.
Out and about
Local places worth a day out.
Parks, beaches, woods, museums and farms across the UK — the free ones, the cheap ones, and the ones worth the petrol.
Your mental health
Looking after your own head.
Mums talking honestly about burnout, guilt and loneliness, and people who know what actually helps. Watch one at the end of the day.
Money
Grants and benefits, explained properly.
Short, clear walk-throughs of what you can claim and how to apply — from people who explain it in plain English rather than in form numbers.
Alongside
We support.
Things to do
Activities, sorted into the rows you actually think in.
Outdoor walks, rainy days, free things, half term. The rows below build themselves — whenever four activities share a tag, that row appears.
Money and grants
Most of it goes unclaimed because nobody tells you it exists.
Benefits, one-off grants, free childcare hours, school costs, energy help. A benefits check takes about twenty minutes and is the single highest-paid twenty minutes in the week.
2.9m
Lone parent families in the UK.
ONS families and households — verify before publishing~90%
Of them headed by a mother.
ONS — verify before publishing£23bn
Estimated unclaimed income-related benefits each year.
Policy in Practice — verify before publishingEvery number and helpline on this page needs checking against its source before the site goes public. Rules and rates change every April.
Start here
Do a full benefits check
Turn2us and entitledto both run free calculators. Have your rent, income, savings and childcare costs to hand. Twenty minutes, no account needed.
turn2us.org.uk →One-off costs
Grant search
Charitable grants exist for white goods, beds, school uniform, funeral costs and debt. Most are never applied for because people don't know they're there.
Grant search →Council
Household Support Fund
Run through your local council, for food, energy and essentials. Each council runs it differently — search your council's name plus "household support fund".
Under 4s
Healthy Start
A prepaid card for milk, fruit, vegetables and vitamins if you're pregnant or have a child under four and are on qualifying benefits.
healthystart.nhs.uk →School
Uniform and free meals
Free school meals, uniform grants and help with trips are all applied for through the council or the school office. Ask directly — they rarely offer.
Maintenance
Child maintenance
You can arrange it privately or through the Child Maintenance Service. The calculator on gov.uk tells you roughly what should be paid before you start.
Calculator →Support services near you.
Advice services, food support, childcare help and family centres, added and checked by us. Filter by what you need and where you are.
Who hands out one-off grants.
Charities and funds that pay for a specific thing — a bed, a cooker, a uniform, an energy bill. Most take a short application and many are barely applied for.
Applying to two or three at once is normal and nobody minds. If you get stuck on a form, Citizens Advice or Gingerbread will help you fill it in.
Your mental health
Everyone asks how the kids are. Almost nobody asks how you are.
Running a household alone is relentless in a way that doesn't show up anywhere. Being worn down by it isn't a character flaw and it isn't a sign you're failing them.
Normal
The guilt is near-universal
Guilt about money, about time, about losing your temper, about the life you thought they'd have. It is almost never a fair account of what you're actually doing.
Normal
Touched out and talked out
Wanting nobody near you by seven o'clock doesn't mean you love them less. It means you've had no gap all day.
Watch for
When it stops lifting
If low mood, dread or numbness has sat there for more than a fortnight, that's worth a GP appointment. Say it plainly: "I'm not coping."
Watch for
Anger that frightens you
Shouting more than you used to, or scaring yourself with how close you came. Ring one of the lines below today rather than promising yourself you'll manage.
Shout
Text SHOUT to 85258Free 24/7 text support if talking out loud is too much with children in the house.
Home-Start
home-start.org.ukA trained volunteer who visits weekly and helps with the actual day, not just the talking.
Someone to talk to properly.
Accredited counsellors and services, including low cost and free ones. Everything listed is registered with BACP, UKCP or NCPS — we check before it goes up.
Your GP can also refer you, and in England you can refer yourself to NHS talking therapies without going through the surgery at all.
Finding your people
The loneliness is the bit nobody warns you about.
Not the work — the silence after bedtime, and having nobody to say "did you see what she did today" to. Every one of these is free, and none of them expect you to be doing well.
UK-wide
Gingerbread
Single parent groups and forums, plus the helpline. Their local group finder is the quickest way to see what's near you.
gingerbread.org.uk →In person
Family hubs and children's centres
Stay-and-play, baby groups, and staff who know every local service. Search your council's name plus "family hub".
In person
Home-Start volunteers
Someone who comes to you. Practical help around the house and a couple of hours of adult company a week.
home-start.org.uk →Online
The groups worth joining
Local single parent Facebook groups, school-gate WhatsApp groups, and mum apps. Watch the section above for which ones people actually rate.
See the videos →Groups near you.
Stay and play, single parent groups, walking groups, peer support. Free ones first, and every one checked to make sure it is still running.
Turning up once and not going back is completely fine. Most people do that a few times before one sticks.
Where you stand
Knowing the rules is half of getting what you're owed.
Housing, work, childcare and maintenance. None of this is legal advice — it's the shape of the thing, so you know what to ask for and who to ask.
Work
Flexible working
You can ask for flexible hours from your first day, twice in any twelve months. Your employer has to deal with the request properly and give a reason if they refuse.
Work
Time off for dependants
You are entitled to reasonable unpaid time off to deal with an emergency involving your children. It cannot be held against you.
Housing
If you're at risk of losing your home
Ring Shelter before it becomes urgent. Councils have duties to families with children, and those duties start earlier than most people assume.
Childcare
Free hours
Funded early years hours are available in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, on different rules. Check your nation's scheme rather than a UK-wide summary.
Maintenance
Child maintenance
A private arrangement is quicker if it works. If it doesn't, the Child Maintenance Service can calculate, collect and enforce it.
Safety
If you're frightened of someone
The National Domestic Abuse Helpline is free and runs 24 hours on 0808 2000 247. Abuse is not only physical, and being a parent does not change your right to leave.
Citizens Advice
0800 144 8848Debt, benefits and consumer problems. England — Wales and Scotland have separate lines.
Domestic abuse
0808 2000 247Free, 24 hours, run by Refuge. If you can't speak, dial 999, listen, then press 55.
Who else can help
The organisations worth knowing about.
National charities and local services, checked by us before they go up. Whatever you are dealing with, somebody on this list has dealt with it a thousand times before and will not be surprised by any of it.
Reading
Longer reads.
Guides, rule changes, and stories from mums doing it. Written to be useful rather than inspiring.
Questions
Things people ask us.
Is this only for single mums?
It's written for single mums, because that's who we set out to help. Nobody is checking. If you're a single dad, a grandparent raising children, or a kinship carer and it's useful to you, use it.
Does it cost anything?
No. No account, no email, no subscription. The site is funded by donations and we don't run ads or sell data.
How do I know the money information is right?
We check anything about benefits, grants or rights against the government or charity source it comes from, and we date it. Rates change every April, so for a decision that matters, confirm with Citizens Advice or Gingerbread as well.
Can I suggest a video or a local service?
Yes, and it's the most useful thing you can send us. Anything we list gets checked before it goes up.
Can I share my story?
If you'd like to. Anonymous, first name only, or on camera — your call, and you can withdraw it at any point.
Where does the money go?
Making guides, filming, and keeping the site and apps free and running. We publish what we spend once a year.
If you ever need it
And if home is the thing that isn't safe, there is a way out of that too.
Abuse is not only being hit. Being controlled, frightened, cut off from money or from people, or worn down until you doubt yourself all count. You do not have to be certain, and you do not have to be leaving, to ring.
Free, 24 hours, run by Refuge
The National Domestic Abuse Helpline. It will not show on an itemised bill. They can find you a refuge place tonight if you need one.
In danger right now
If you cannot speak safely, dial 999, listen to the operator, then press 55. You will be put through to the police without saying a word.
If talking isn't safe
Women's Aid live chatChat online instead of speaking, and a survivors' forum that is open all night.
Worried about your own behaviour
0808 802 4040Respect Phoneline. Ringing before something happens is the right move.
Nothing on this page is stored, and no search you run here is recorded. If someone else can get into this device, use the quick exit button and check your browser history afterwards.
Find a refuge or a service near you.
Refuges, outreach workers and advocates, added and checked by us. We never publish a refuge address — ring them, or ring the national helpline and they will place you.
You can be placed in a refuge a long way from home, and that is often the point. Ask about pets, older boys, and accessibility when you ring — every service handles those differently.
Keep in touch
New guides, now and then.
A short email when there's something genuinely worth knowing — a rule change, a new grant, a guide. Nothing else.
Your people
Mums' groups on social media.
Which Facebook groups, forums and local networks are worth joining, how to find your nearest one, and how to spot the ones that will only make you feel worse.