Comparison of households containing lone parent families with other households showed that in some cases the variation in levels of access to consumer durables was similar to that seen between other family types and non-family households while in other cases they appeared to be worse off. They were more likely than other households to have a:

• video recorder (95% compared with 87%)
• CD player (89% compared with 76%)
• tumble drier (60% compared with 54%)
• mobile phone (69% compared with 57% of other households).

Households containing lone parent families were less likely than other households to have a fixed telephone(85% compared with 94%). They were also less likely than other households to have:

• access to a car or van (50% compared with 75%)
• access to the internet at home (27% compared with 34%)
• a dishwasher (18% compared with 27%).