Single mothers want the Abbott government's commission of audit to recommend increasing the unemployment benefit Newstart Allowance.
At the start of 2013, tens of thousands of single mothers, many working part time, were shifted off parenting payments and onto Newstart Allowance, leaving many between $60 and $100 a week worse off.
The National Council of Single Mothers and Their Children has now made a submission to the commission suggesting the Newstart payment be increased.
It's also called for a fairer test to be applied to part time work earnings and how they affect welfare payments.
Council spokeswoman Terese Edwards said the allowance was acting as a employment disincentive for many mothers.
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On parenting payments single mothers could keep $113 a week, whereas on Newstart they can only keep $31 a week under the tougher income test rules.
She said single mothers who were studying needed support to complete qualifications so they could escape the poverty cycle and low paid employment.
The previous Labor government was responsible for the latest welfare cuts to single mothers, which built on previous welfare changes introduced under the Howard government.
The ALP now acknowledges the cuts were a mistake and hurt struggling families.
