By Alessandra Lacaita

“I don't want to abort, I want to carry on,” says Sharon, a Nigerian girl living in the UK. After she got pregnant, her boyfriend threatened to leave her unless she aborted the fetus. “But it was mine,” she says. Sharon refused to have an abortion and joined thousands of other single mothers in the UK. Sharon prefers to remain anonymous to keep her privacy intact, so her name in this article is a pseudonym.

“I don't know if I was scared or ashamed, I was thinking about what I could tell my sisters,” Sharon explains about being pregnant without a boyfriend. “Where is the man? I didn't tell them for a while. Then in August, I spoke with them.”

Sharon lives in London and speaks openly about her experience of being helped by the UK welfare system to Dispatches International. In her opinion, England is a good place for single mothers and she is grateful for the care she has received in her new home.

“In Nigeria, you don't get anything free,” Sharon explains. “Nothing is free because nobody cares about you!”

When she found out she was pregnant, she was practical: her first action was to go to a doctor to learn the expected delivery date and register for medical assistance. The medical assistance program provided a midwife, someone in charge of looking after Sharon during the maternity period. The midwife called Sharon after six weeks, let her formally register and then gave her suggestions about how to obtain economic benefits during her pregnancy.

To learn more about the benefits available for single mothers, I contacted the office of the Waltham Forest Council (WFC), the municipal government that Sharon worked with. Their spokesperson explained that mothers of babies born in the UK can claim economic benefits like a room or a flat with subsidized rent. The amount of aid that they receive depends on their current economic status. Employment is a determining factor; working mothers, for example, are more likely to receive the residence as they can prove that rent will be paid monthly. Unemployed mothers receive funding, too, but it is more difficult for them to obtain a private home.

Sharon and her one-year-old child live in comfort thanks to the social services Sharon received as a pregnant woman in the UK.

Photo credit – author.

“If the woman is working, she gets some benefits. If she's going to move when she has the baby she will get a one-bedroom flat, so she will receive ₤166 maximum ($260 USD) per week,” explains the WFC spokesperson. “The amount of money changes depending on the maternity pay the woman receives from her employer.”

“If she is not working, the benefits she can get depend on the income support or job seeker allowance she's going to claim. If a mother comes here and does not work, if the job center gives her the job seeker allowance or the income support, we will help her. But if she is not receiving any benefits from the job center then we will not be able to help her. For a mother who is not working, the maximum amount of money we give her is ₤67 ($105 USD) per week.”

It is important to note that there are a number of charities and services for expecting parents in the UK. Gingerbread is the largest charity for single parents; interestingly, it cares not only for single mothers but also single fathers.

Philippa Newis, a Policy Officer at Gingerbread, explains their philosophy on helping single parents: “It doesn't matter when and how you become a single parent. You could be a single parent because you got divorced, because you separated, or you could be a single parent because you had casual sexual relationships. It doesn't matter, your rights are exactly the same.”

“If you are a single mum or a single dad, you are entitled to the same benefits. The benefits you claim depend on the level of your income,” explains Newis. Gingerbread offers training, advice and counseling, and a helpline to all single parents in the UK. It also helps single parents find work and conducts awareness campaigns on their behalf.

Sharon did not work through Gingerbread because WFC effectively helped her navigate the English welfare system. “I needed a house, the room when I was staying would have not been big enough for me and the baby, so the midwife told me everything I needed to claim a home,” Sharon recalls. “[I needed] the fetus scan, the address where I was living, the proof of address, the wages of my working day, my bank details, the hospital book and a letter from the landlord that I should leave the house.”

Once Sharon applied to get the subsidized home, WFC assigned a case worker to analyze her situation. This person evaluated the condition in which Sharon was living and decided to put her in a hostel, which is where homeless people live while they are waiting for a home.

“There are two types of people in the hostel: those are working like me and those who are not working. Those who are not working are paying ₤7.50 ($12 USD) every week. But I'm paying ₤120 ($190 USD) per week,” says Sharon.

Living conditions in the hostel, like many other subsidized housing facilities, are less than ideal. “In the hostel there's no fridge, no television, there's nothing!” she says. “The only think we have is the cooker.”

All the people who are living in the hostel are on a list: an applicant's position on the list depends on seniority and need. Sharon explains that these are both subjective conditions, and no one will take care of an applicant if she doesn't push for permanent accommodations.

“You have to do the job yourself, if you don't fight for it, they will not answer you, they will not give what you want,” says Sharon. “Every day you have to call them. Sometime they will not pick your phone up, I had to call and ask what was going on every day.”

A case worker is only responsible for an applicant until they are housed in the hostel. At that point, another person is assigned to the applicant until they can assign either temporary or permanent accommodations. The WFC will occasionally place hostel-dwellers in temporary housing before finding them permanent accommodations.

Sharon was offered temporary housing while she was staying at the hostel. “I didn't like it, I was crying,” she says about her visit to the temporary housing. “There was rubbish everywhere. I decided to stay in the hostel until I could have permanent housing.”

It was clear that persistence would be necessary, as Sharon was applying for a two bedroom flat. She was called in again to view a one bedroom apartment, but she refused again. Someone notified her that the only way she would get a two bedroom flat was to wait until her baby's birth. Determined to have two bedrooms, she spent four months in the hostel until she gave birth; shortly after, she presented the birth certificate and discharge note from the hospital to the WFC.

Sharon and her sister started looking at the homes she might be able to move into. They were able to give themselves self-guided tours because the houses were usually unlocked. Eventually she found a two bedroom flat she liked; a short while later, she moved in. Her monthly rent is ₤450 ($700 USD), but without social support it would be more than ₤700 ($1,000 USD).

During the maternity period, the WFC pays half of Sharon's rent; when she returns to work, she will pay the full sum. Perhaps more valuable for Sharon, now a single mother, is the guarantee that she will have the flat forever and the monthly rent can only increase ₤20 ($30 USD) each year. She is allowed to live there with a partner or husband if she notifies the WFC of the change in tenancy.

There are a number of other economic benefits a single mother can get. “I asked for more benefits but they said I was not qualified because I am still working,” Sharon explains. “But there are some benefits, which I received, called 'pregnancy grants,' although they don't give those anymore.” The “pregnancy grant” was a one-time ₤200 ($310 USD) grant for single mothers to help them purchase supplies and clothes for their baby while they are pregnant.

“After the birth of the baby, a mother can receive a 'maternity grant,' which is ₤500 ($780 USD),” explains Sharon. “Another benefit is the 'maternity allowance,' which is just for mothers that don't work full-time. Another benefit I received was the 'charge tax credit,' which you get if you are working more than 16 hours each week.”

Sharon explain that single mothers can also receive “charge benefits for the baby” and the “healthy eating voucher,” which provide in-store credit for baby supplies, as well as milk, fruit and vegetables. Single mothers are also eligible for the “maternity exemption card,” which covers the cost of prescriptions, dental care and other health services. “For women that are not working,” adds Sharon, “there are a lot of charities that can help them with vouchers that they can spend in charity shops.”

The diversity of support groups for single mothers is evidence of the strong social safety net that exists in the UK. Some of the more specific charities that help single mothers in the UK are Women In Prison (WIP) and Birth Companions. Both groups work to help inmates and ex-convicts who become pregnant, and especially try to help their children after being born.

Laurel Townhead, a campaign manager with WIP, tells Dispatches International that pregnant inmates are allowed to keep their babies with them for a short while after giving birth. “For the mother in prison we have a mother-and-baby unit. It's a special unit where the women can be with their baby when the baby is born,” says Townhead. “Pregnant inmates can only keep their babies for nine months in most prisons or 18 months in two special prisons.”

WIP's main roles are lobbying on behalf of pregnant inmates, helping the mothers navigate the complicated paperwork to apply for special circumstances and counseling the women after they give birth in prison. In London, Birth Companions plays a role similar to WIP. It offers a support team during labor and in the days after birth, so that the inmate doesn't feel alienated and alone. The organization also provides a resettlement service for recently discharged but vulnerable pregnant mothers.

Fortunately, Sharon did not need to rely on the service of WIP or Birth Companions – but she depend heavily on the WFC for housing, subsidized rent, cash grants and various other forms of support during her pregnancy and after giving birth. Today, she has a healthy one-year-old daughter. Both are healthy and happy, thanks in large part to the services provided to single mothers in the UK.

When Sharon thinks about other single women who become pregnant and feel alone in the world, she has a simple suggestion.

“Do like me. I didn't close my mouth. I asked. Because if you don't ask, you will not know your rights and benefits.”