FOI reference: FOI-2024-2484
You asked
Please could you provide me with the number of lone-parent families per constituency in the UK in 2023 and 2024.
If statistics from 2023 and 2024 are not available, please could you provide me with statistics from the most recent year available.
We said
Thank you for your freedom of information request.
A lone parent family is where a parent (who does not live with a partner) lives with at least one of their children. The parent with whom the children live the majority of the time is considered to be a lone parent family. The parent with whom the children live less than half of the time would not be considered to be within a lone parent family (unless they are a lone parent living with their children from another relationship).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes regular data for families at national and regional geography level using Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates, including measures of uncertainty of the number of families by specific family types for England, Scotland and Wales, as well as the regions of England. The most recent estimates available are for 2023. Data, including estimates for earlier years, are available from Families by family type, regions of England and Great Britain constituent countries. We do not hold this data broken down to constituency level.
Census data can provide household composition data for other geography levels, including parliamentary constituencies, but the most recent data available is for 2021. Please see the following links:
- TS003 - Household composition (Westminster Parliamentary constituencies pre-2019) England and Wales
- TS003 - Household composition (2024 Westminster Parliamentary constituencies) England and Wales
The UK censuses are run separately by each National Statistics Office (Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA), National Records of Scotland (NRS), and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for both England and Wales).
Northern Ireland's census was taken in 2021 and you can access their census data here: https://www.nisra.gov.uk/statistics/2021-census/results
Scotland's census was moved to 2022. Publication of unrounded estimates began in May 2024. Please see their website for information: https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/about/2022-census/census-outputs-schedule/
Contact details for NRS and NISRA are provided below:
National Records Of Scotland
Tel: 0131 3144299
Website: www.nrscotland.gov.uk
Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency
Tel: 02890 255156
Email: census@nisra.gov.uk
Website: http://www.nisra.gov.uk/census