Single Mums Business Network [SMBN]

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You can join as a member or as a supporter!

There are HUNDRES of amazing pictures I could share to try and capture the feeling of the SMBN. I invite you to view the full gallery here. I had closed the SMBN in February 2025. I needed to step away and focus on creating Labeada® amongst other things, and converting the SMBN to a CIC was a mistake, as the core ethos of the SMBN was moving away from asking for any support of any kind, it was about working hard, chipping in, and returning to independence, supporting the economy whilst donating to other charities, but the grief for the SMBN was real! and on deep reflection, she returns with her original mission and passion to help others, whilst actively challenging the barriers to flexible working, home ownership, and access to finance after adversity.

In my ‘gap year’ I have remained active in supporting the charity Purple Shoots Ltd, and I have continued to contribute to conversations around barriers to work, homes and finance. see HERE

We have taken a backwards step with negativity around ‘working from home’ [WFH], flexible and hybrid working etc; whilst there have been positive changes in legislation, employers (including public sector) have kicked back. So here are my passionate frustrations that need further work:

Companies rejecting WFH, yet outsourcing abroad to cut costs, it’s contradictory and severely hurts the UK economy. When I published ‘Breaking out of Benefits Jail’ in 2022, there were circa 800,000 mothers, skilled, hard-working women, desperate to work remotely or flexibly around childcare, either during the day or in the evening as children slept, this is HUGE number of people who are probably forced into some kind of benefit receipt, because companies outsource abroad instead of offering the same remote work here. This applies to those with disabilities too!

Mortgages – good conversations are happening but we still have millions of us paying over £1000 rent each month that should be paid into our own estate – inheritance for our own children, this isn’t benefit money, it is salaries, and even if you have suffered adversity previously, if you are paying somebody else’s mortgage out of your own money, you should be able to pay your own.

Finance – the credit scoring system hurts too many people. Sharks are still at play, lenders are being financed who pretend they support those in adversity, but they reject those who need help the most, I have lots of insight and information into who the culprits are and how they mislead customers and further damage credit scores by way of hard searches. I am keen to speak more about this to those who can make changes.

Stigma – hate speech for the single parent community (specifically single mums) is rife, any news article online is met with hundreds of hateful, ill informed, ignorant comments, we need protected characteristics to help make this hate a crime.

Media – media still often covers news articles with stereotypical harmful stereotypes of single mothers, leading to lack of relatability and empathy, further fuelling hate speech, stigma and misconceptions.

There’s more, but that gives you an idea of what the SMBN exists for, meanwhile showcasing the reality of the amazing hard-working women who by definition are single mothers, holding lovely events where we, and our children can get dressed up and not feel like ‘the single mother’ at a wedding event! We are a community, an amazing one at that, and our children are happy, well taken care of, clean and educated!

Join us today! as a friend or as a supporter – the SMBN needs YOU!