I lost my job in the last recession. I know how difficult it will be for single parents this time

During the last financial crisis, all opportunities seemed to vanish overnight. And without a safety net things can look very bleak indeed

Every time more job losses are announced during this crisis I think of all the people behind the headlines, the lives affected, and the knock-on effect for local communities. I lost my job in the last recession and all opportunities seemed to vanish overnight. As a single parent of one, my little family's financial situation quickly became very precarious indeed. For six months I struggled to find any regular paid work at all, and I was at risk of losing the roof over our heads.

The speed at which all this escalated was terrifying. As the bills mounted up I started to dread every text message, every phone call, every letter. The credit crunch had already bitten. I sold what I could and sometimes skipped meals so my son could eat. We had been on our own since he was 18 months old and being able to provide for him was massively important to me.

Like those excluded from government support during this crisis and the “forgotten freelancers”, because I had been on a contract I wasn't entitled to much in the way of benefits, and had never been in the position to save for a deluge of rainy days, I applied for countless jobs and temp positions without receiving any reply. Christmas saw me scouring recruitment sites.

In the end I was bailed out by my son's father and a loan from a friend, and eventually I managed to find a new role, but I will never forget the relentless anxiety of living hand to mouth. When you're in that position, you go through every possible emotion. Shame. Panic. Fear. Ultimately everything becomes about survival.  

Without any sort of safety net or support things can look very bleak indeed. In 2009, the year I lost my job, unemployment rose to 7.6 per cent. The Bank of England is currently predicting unemployment for this year to be 7.5 per cent, though some analysts think it will be much higher.  

Coronavirus has compounded an already fragile financial position for many people across the country, but especially those who were on low incomes, zero-hours contracts, the excluded, new starters those who were on maternity leave and the self-employed.

It is women who are bearing the brunt of the pandemic and the figures are incredibly concerning. In July the charity Pregnant Then Screwed surveyed nearly 20,000 working mothers and found that 15 per cent have been made redundant or expect to lose their job by the end of this year. According to the housing charity Shelter one in three families are only a month's pay from being unable to make their rent or mortgage payments. Research from Crisis shows there there has been a 500 per cent increase in households hit by the benefit cap. More than four million people are already trapped in deep poverty and almost a third of children live in poverty.

Despite repeated calls for first Universal Credit payments to be sped up to five days, the first payment can still take five weeks. That's an incredibly long time to wait when you're already struggling, and because it's only paid into one bank account it can leave those in abusive relationships at risk of financial abuse.

As his woeful performance in the Commons showed this week, the prime minister seems determined to bluster his way through this crisis, shouting about getting people back to work without addressing the real issues so many are facing. There is so much the government can and should be doing, but extending the job retention scheme to give sector-specific support would be a start; as would suspension of the benefit cap and the two-child limit, and more funding for charities working with women, young people and families.

Scrapping No Recourse to Public Funds would significantly improve the lives of vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers who face a daily struggle to survive, including mothers like Mercy Baguma, an asylum seeker who was found dead in Glasgow next to her baby.

I'd also like to see all companies that took advantage of the furlough scheme being required to demonstrate that women employees are being treated fairly and equally in terms of retention, and to offer as much flexibility as possible.

There are so many opportunities for the government to be much more ambitious in its recovery plans, particularly for the green economic recovery, and to offer retraining and further education for all those who lose their jobs, as well as expanding free childcare provision and supporting the early years and childcare sector so women can return to work.

Later this month I'll be joining Liberal Democrat members at the party's annual conference in calling for the introduction of a Basic Income, to be paid to every adult, with additional support for the most vulnerable households. It would make such a difference to so many – but particularly women, single parents and those on low incomes. A Basic Income would have helped enormously when I was working out what meals to make from the reduced items shelves in the supermarket, worrying about the prospect of losing our home and having to make tough decisions about which bills to pay first.

Everyone deserves security and freedom, and fewer sleepless nights. So many people are facing a very bleak winter without proper support or a safety net. No one should be left behind.