UNIVERSAL credit (UC) will see 600,000 single parents worse off than under the previous benefit system, the Resolution Foundation reveals today.

Lone parents, 90 per cent of whom are women, lose out the most when moving onto the controversial system, despite £1.7 billion extra investment from the Budget.

Analysis by the think tank found that although the investment in UC work allowances will increase single parents’ income by up to £630 a year, they were still more likely to be worse off under the Tories’ system.