WOMEN in Glasgow are being hit the hardest by UK welfare reforms a new report has revealed.

The study has shown that the benefits targeted by the UK Government's deficit reduction policy are more likely to be claimed by women.

It also concluded that the most affected group are female single parents.

Studies have shown Glasgow has the highest rate of single parents - almost 30,000, mostly women - and in some areas more than half of families are one parent households.

The new report, Gender Impact of Welfare Reform - said that single women lose out more than single men, and even lone female parents lose a greater share of their income than single male parents.

It highlighted the child benefit freeze and reduction, cut in childcare costs in tax credits, removal of baby element of child tax credit, and changes to pregnancy and maternity grants hitting income mostly paid to women.

Universal Credit, coming later this year is expected to make the problem worse as benefits will be paid in one monthly payment.

The report states that where the payment is made to a man in the family it will deprive the woman of independent income.

It said money provided to women is more likely to be spent on children's needs than money provided to men.

Analysis concluded that lone fathers would lose 7.5% of their income compared to 8.5% for lone mothers.

The wider spending cuts are also believed to impact more on women who account for 65% of the public sector workforce and are more at risk of redundancy and pay freezes. The report, concluded: "many of the welfare reforms have a larger impact on women due to women's roles as carers for children and their receipt of benefits directed towards children."

The Scottish Government said this shows the most vulnerable were being hit hardest.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, said: "This shows there are adverse consequences for women, particularly mothers and their children, who could be worse off due to Westminster's welfare cuts.

"We are doing what we can, within the powers and resources we have, to help people in Scotland who are affected by these unfair reforms.

"This includes providing an additional £9.2 million towards our new £33 million Scottish Welfare Fund."