Cameron plans will penalise poorest parents

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08/01/08 David Cameron claimed in 2006 that weapons had been put beyond use in the Conservative war on lone parents but today's announcement that the Party would introduce drastic benefit cuts and workfare for lone parents who fail to find jobs suggests that the ceasefire was temporary.

Head of Policy at One Parent Families| Gingerbread Kate Bell said:

"Nearly 60 per cent of lone parents are working, and most want to work. Those who are not either can't find affordable childcare or a job that pays enough and fits with school hours or they are having to put their parenting responsibilities first for a time. Today's proposals to cut the benefits of lone parents with children aged five who fail to find jobs risk plunging many families into poverty. Benefit sanctions and enforced community work would do nothing to help parents find the flexible jobs and childcare they need and would penalise those who most need to be there for their children. Evidence from America, where over a million more children have fallen into poverty since 2000, shows that when sanctions are applied, it's the most vulnerable families who lose out."

"David Cameron told us that the Tory war on lone parents was over and that he wanted to put the welfare of children first. But it is clear from today's announcements that the Party has failed to listen to the one in four British families headed by a lone mother or father. In the context of the Conservative Party's avowed commitment to ending child poverty in Britain, these measures are a recipe for disaster."

Notes to editors:

Government recently announced plans to ask lone parents whose youngest child is seven look for work and face benefit cuts if they fail to take up jobs.

A recent survey for DWP found that 55 per disagreed with the proposition that "people with children of school age should be obliged to work rather than claim benefits" and 24% neither agreed nor disagreed, with only 21% in favour.

From 1996 to 2003, the number of single mothers who fall into the "no work, no welfare" group in an average month increased by more than 400,000. There are now roughly 1 million poor single mothers - with 2 million children - in an average month who fall into this "no work, no welfare" group.

Between 2000 and 2004, an additional 1.4 million children in the US fell into poverty.

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