write to my MP about the two child limit and benefit cap

why write to my mp?

MPs make the law and they are accountable to YOU as the people they represent. Writing to them is an easy and quick way to show them that their constituents care about single parents and that they need to do something about this.

FIND YOUR MP

You can find your local MP here.

LETTER TO YOUR MP ASKING FOR the two child limit and the benefit cap to be removed

“Dear [insert MP name],

I am a member of your constituency and I am writing to you as [insert something personal here e.g. a single parent/ a single parent ally/ an adult raised by a single parent] about the need for UK parental leave policies to be reformed to recognise all family types - especially single parents.

New research from Single Parent Rights reveals serious failings in the current and proposed parental leave plans which disadvantage single parent families. The key findings include:

  1. The parental leave system assumes a second parent will help financially: for single parents, this isn’t an option.

  2. 80% of single parents say maternity pay is not enough to live on: parents are going into debt, skipping meals and returning to work early.

  3. 95% of single parents want non-transferable leave for a father/second parent to be transferable to the sole parent in families where there is no active second parent.

  4. Single dads are excluded within the current system: there’s little consideration of how to improve their paternity leave take up rates, and for those who take on full parental responsibility in the early days, there’s no legal right to paid leave (unless it’s due to the death of the mother).

  5. There are concerns amongst co-parenting single mothers around the risk of non-transferable leave being used as a tool for post-separation abuse.

To address these failings, I support Single Parent Rights’ call to replace maternity/paternity/adoption leave with a new, universal ‘New Parent Leave’ entitlement. This inclusive family-based entitlement would include ring-fenced elements for two parent families and full entitlements for single parent families.

Furthermore, ‘unpaid parental leave’ should be the same for single parent families as two parent families and this should be paid at 50% of the National Living Wage to make it more accessible. A new, universal ‘single parent transition’ leave should also be provided for individuals when they become a single parent, whether at the start of their parenthood journey or later - a policy which is already popular in other countries including Norway.

You can download their report and briefing from their website, here: https://www.singleparentrights.org/parental-leave-research

I look forward to hearing from you what the plans are to ensure the parental leave review currently being conducted

Yours sincerely,

[insert name and postcode (your MP won’t be able to respond unless you can show you are a constituent of theirs)]”

TAKE MORE ACTIONS

Our other template letters are available on this page.