Gingerbread — the Charity for Single Parent Families

Gingerbread is the national charity working with single parent families in England and Wales. It provides expert information and advice on the issues single parents most often face — money, benefits, work, child maintenance and family law — and campaigns for a society in which single parent families are treated equally and fairly.

REVIEWED BY: Sean McNamara on 2026-08-31

What Gingerbread is

Gingerbread describes itself as the leading charity for single parent families in England and Wales. Its roots go back to 1918 (as the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child, later the National Council for One Parent Families) and to Gingerbread, a self-help organisation founded in 1970; the two merged in 2007 and relaunched under the Gingerbread name in 2009.

The charity's work has three strands: advice and information for single parents on practical and legal issues; campaigning and policy work on employment, benefits, poverty and family justice as they affect single parents; and peer support, including a large online community where single parents share experiences and advice.

Gingerbread is a membership organisation at heart — single parents can join for free — and its policy positions are built directly on the lived experience of the families it serves. It engages regularly with government consultations on child maintenance, universal credit, childcare and the family courts.

What help it offers

Expert information pages at gingerbread.org.uk covering: child maintenance (how the CMS works, challenging calculations and decisions), benefits and tax credits for single parents, work and childcare costs, separation and divorce, and arrangements for children.
An advice line. For many years Gingerbread ran a free, confidential Single Parent Helpline offering expert advice on any aspect of single parenting — money, benefits, employment and family law — and the service supported a very large number of parents over two decades. Note that the charity closed this long-running helpline in 2025, so check gingerbread.org.uk for the current routes to support, which now centre on its online information, webchat and community channels.
A single parent community — an online forum moderated by the charity where parents can ask questions and get peer support.
Campaigns and research on single parent poverty, employment and family justice, used to influence policy.

Contact details

Website: https://www.gingerbread.org.uk
Advice and information: https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/information/
Single parent community: https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/community/
Helpline: the Single Parent Helpline (formerly 0808 802 0925) closed in 2025; check the website for current contact and support options before calling.
Contact page: https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/contact-us/

How a self-representing parent can use Gingerbread

If you are a single parent dealing with separation, child arrangements or child maintenance — with or without a lawyer — Gingerbread helps in these practical ways:

1. Master child maintenance first. Gingerbread's child maintenance guidance is among the clearest available: how the Child Maintenance Service calculates payments, how to challenge a calculation, what happens when a parent doesn't pay, and the collection fees. Most parents arguing about money would do better to fix maintenance separately from the children arrangements case. 2. Get the benefits picture right. Separation changes your entitlements. Gingerbread explains universal credit, child elements, childcare support and how maintenance interacts with benefits — critical if you are negotiating finances or deciding whether to apply to court. 3. Use the community strategically. Thousands of single parents have been through exactly your situation — first hearings, CAFCASS, enforcement applications. The moderated forum is a place to learn what actually happens, though always verify legal points against official sources. 4. Understand your options before court. The information pages walk through arrangements for children, court applications and the expectations the court places on parents — useful preparation before a MIAM or first hearing. 5. Know you are not alone. Single parents are over-represented in family proceedings; Gingerbread's research and campaigns provide the broader context, and can be a source of strength if you feel the system is stacked against you.

Gingerbread does not provide legal representation or individual legal advice on court cases, and cannot intervene in your proceedings — for case-specific help use Coram Child Law Advice, a solicitor, or the other services in this directory.

Useful links

Gingerbread homepage: https://www.gingerbread.org.uk
Advice and information: https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/information/
Child maintenance information: https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/information/child-maintenance/
Single parent community: https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/community/

This page is general information, not legal advice. Laws, procedures and contact details change — verify anything important against the official sources linked above before relying on it. Your Family Case is an independent directory listing; we take no referral fees and are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or receiving payment from any organisation listed.

Content verified against the official HMCTS court directory, gov.uk forms and fees pages, and the professional body registers (SRA, FMC, Bar Council). Last reviewed September 2026.