Hain pushes lone parents to return to work

from The Guardian

Press Association
SocietyGuardian.co.uk

The work and pensions secretary, Peter Hain, has unveiled new measures designed to put more pressure on lone parents to get a job.

From October 2008, single parents will be required to seek work when their youngest child reaches the age of 12 instead of the current age of 16. From 2010, that minimum age will be reduced to seven.

Lone parents would be "expected to make an eventual move into the labour market in return for new and more personalised support", he said.

It is one of several measures included in a green paper published for consultation today, which targets groups who "remain furthest from the labour market" with "untapped potential". As well as lone parents, these include long-term claimants; ethnic minority groups; 16 and 17-year-olds not in education, employment or training; and inner-city "pockets of poverty and worklessness".

In the Commons, Mr Hain said there was a need to "re-ignite the jobs crusade" that started when Labour came to power in 1997.

Mr Hain said children of unemployed lone parents were five times more likely to be in poverty than children of lone parents in full-time jobs.

He added: "Because we are serious about tackling child poverty, we intend that this age will be reduced to seven from October 2010, backed up by the local availability of high-quality wrap-around childcare."

The issue was raised at prime minister's question time when Gordon Brown told MPs: "It has always been our intention to get more lone parents into work, providing them with the childcare and training facilities that are necessary for them to do so."

He said the New Deal for Lone Parents provided "perhaps a quarter of a million opportunities - in addition to what exists at the moment - for lone parents and others to get into work".

Chris Grayling, the Conservative work and pensions spokesman, supported the move, but added there was a "distinct sense of deja vu" about the statement - the government's 11th announcement in 10 years about getting people off benefits and into work.

The green paper also features a measure announced in this year's Budget - a "jobs pledge" designed to get 250,000 people into the workplace over the next three years. Firms participating in the scheme, known as local employer partnerships, will offer guaranteed interviews to applicants on benefit who show they are "ready and prepared for work".

David Frost, the director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, warned that "pushing" people off benefit and back to work could be undermined without proper advice and support.

He said: "It is critically-important that those who have been economically inactive for long periods of time are adequately prepared for the world of work. This is not only about ensuring candidates have the right skills but also the work ethic which will ensure they stay in work for the long-term."

Kate Stanley, the head of social policy at left-leaning thinktank the Institute for Public Policy Research, said it would be better to ask every lone parent of a school-age child to work and decide on a case-by-case basis how to help them do it.

Claire Tickell, the chief executive of children's charity NCH, said: "Forcing parents into work is not the answer, and will have a negative impact on the most vulnerable."

Mr Hain said the green paper was based on the "values and principles" of Beveridge and Atlee.

He said: "An active, progressive welfare system should provide people with the skills employers need to fill some of the 600,000 vacancies that come up in our labour market each month."