The number of single parents on zero-hours contracts has increased tenfold over the past ten years, putting more children at risk of living in poverty, according to a report from charity Gingerbread.

The report shows unsustainable work and poverty are two of the biggest issues facing the UK’s 1.7 million single parent families today. Data from Gingerbread showed that over 40,000 single parents are employed via zero-hours contracts. Additionally, many single parents have been forced to turn to often low-paying self-employment, as there is no suitable work available, the study says.

Meanwhile, there has been a 58% rise in the number of self-employed single parents in the past decade, with nearly 60,000 more single parents now self-employed compared to 2007. The research also shows that some single parents have been encouraged into unsustainable self-employment by jobcentre advisers in a bid to get them into work.

Furthermore, over the past 20 years, single parents and their children have faced around twice the risk of poverty compared to couple parents. This situation is set to worsen with 63% of children in single parent families likely to be in poverty by 2021.

“The findings of this report illustrate how single parents’ aspirations can be thwarted by circumstances outside their control,” Rosie Ferguson, Gingerbread’s Chief Executive, said. “The majority of single parents work but many are still locked out of the secure, flexible employment opportunities they need in order to provide for their children.  Low-paid and insecure jobs, as well as the lack of affordable childcare, mean that some single parents struggle to put food on the table for their children.”

Gingerbread is calling on the government to suspend job-seeking conditions for single parents with pre-school aged children and single parents in training, to avoid pushing single parents into unsustainable work.

They are also calling on the government to tailor jobcentre support for single parents and invest in higher levels of training and education. Furthermore, Gingerbread states that the government should work with employers to embed a genuinely family-friendly labour market, including improving the availability of good quality part-time and flexible jobs as well as expand promised childcare support to target assistance on low income families.

“The government must work with jobcentres, employers and childcare providers to ensure that work genuinely provides a route out of poverty,” Ferguson said. “We need to strengthen the system of support for single parents to provide a decent standard of living for them and their children.”