Ok, for those of you who want to argue whether becoming a single parent is a potential route to poverty, or something that happens to someone else here are some facts from gingerbread:
It is pretty depressing reading 
?Just over a quarter (26 per cent) of households with dependent children are single parent families (1), and there are 2 million single parents in Britain today. (2) This figure has remained consistent since the mid-1990?s
?Less than 2 per cent of single parents are teenagers (3)
?The median age of single parents is 38.1 (4)
?Around half of single parents had their children within marriage ? 49 per cent are separated from marriage, divorced or widowed (5)
?59.2 per cent of single parents are in work, up 14.5 percentage points since 1997 (6)
?The employment rate for single parents varies depending on the age of their youngest child. Once their children are 12 or over, single parents? employment rate is similar to, or higher than, the employment rate for mothers in couples (71 per cent of single parents whose child is 11-15 are in work) (7)
Who are single parents?
?There are 3 million children living in a single parent household (23% per cent of all dependent children) (8)
?Around 8 per cent of single parents (186,000) are fathers (9)
?The average duration of single parenthood is around 5 years (10)
?Only 6.5 per cent of all births are registered alone, and 10 per cent are registered to two parents who live apart (11)
?Single fathers are more likely to be widowed than single mothers (12 per cent of single fathers are widowed, compared with 5 per cent of single mothers), and their children tend to be older (12)
?Just under half of couples divorcing in 2009 had at least one child aged under 16. Over a fifth (21 per cent) of the children in 2009 were under five and 63 per cent were under eleven (13)
The proportion of single parent families has increased since the 1970s, but it hasn?t changed much in the last ten years
?In 1971 just 8 per cent of families with children were single parent families (14)
?In 1998 24 per cent of families with children were single parent families (15)
?In 2011 26 per cent of families with children were single parent families (16)
Single parent families and poverty
?Children in single parent families have a much higher risk of living in poverty than children in couple families. Around four in every 10 (41 per cent) of children in single parent families are poor, compared to just over two in every 10 of children in couple families (17)
?Paid work is not a guaranteed route out of poverty for single parents; the poverty rate for single parent families where the parent works part time is 23 per cent, and 18 per cent where the parent works full time (18)
?The median weekly income for working single parent families doing 16 hours a week or more is £337, compared with £491 for couple families with one worker and £700 where both parents work (19)
?43 per cent of single parents are social housing tenants compared to 12 per cent of couples (20)
?71 per cent of all single parent renters receive housing benefit compared to 25 per cent of all couple renters (21)
?Single parent households are the most likely to be in arrears on one or more household bills, mortgage or nonmortgage borrowing commitment (31 per cent) (22)
?38 per cent of single parents said that money always runs out before the end of the week/month compared to 19 per cent of couples (23)
?63 per cent of single parents have no savings compared to 34 per cent of couples (24)
Work and childcare
?Where single parents are not working, this is often because there are health issues that make work difficult: 33 per cent of unemployed single parents have a disability or longstanding illness (25) and 34 per cent have a child with a disability (26)
?Over half of single parents are in work (59.2 per cent), up 14.5 percentage points since 1997. In the same period, the employment rate of mothers in couples has risen three percentage points to 71 per cent (27)
?Single parents rely heavily on informal childcare. Of those using childcare, 46 per cent said it was informal. (28) For single parents working 16 hours a week or more 34 per cent had a childcare arrangement with the child?s grandparents, and 17 per cent had an arrangement with their ex-partner (29)
?Working single parents paying for childcare are much more likely than working couples paying for childcare to find it difficult to meet childcare costs (32% compared to 22% of couples where one partner is in work, and 20% of couples where both work) (30)
Child maintenance
?Only two-fifths (38 per cent) of single parents receive maintenance from their child?s other parent (31)
?For all those with an agreement for child maintenance (both through the CSA and private arrangement) the median weekly amount received is £46 per family (32)
?The average amount of child maintenance liable to be paid through the CSA is currently £33.50 per week (£22.50 if all cases with a weekly assessment of zero are included in the average). (33) Among parents with care in receipt of income-related benefits, the average amount is £23 (excluding cases with a weekly assessment of zero) (34)
?Of single parents receiving child maintenance through the CSA, 40 per cent receive less than £10 per week, 38 per cent receive between £10 and £50 per week and 22 per cent receive more than £50 per week (35)