TRUSTING LONE PARENTS - SANCTIONS OR
OPPORTUNITIES
John Hutton, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has
floated the idea that there should be more conditions placed on lone parents claiming
benefits. Single parents, whose youngest
child is aged 11 or over, could lose their right to Income Support and be moved to the
Jobseekers Allowance regime where they must be available for work.
It is commonly thought that single parents can receive Income
Support without having to seek work until their youngest child is 16. However, the Government has already introduced
conditionality into the system of support for lone parents so that those with a youngest
child of 14 must attend four Work Focused Interviews a year. The Secretary of State, John Hutton wants
these conditions extended.
Former city banker, David Freud was commissioned by the DWP to
look at this issue and despite acknowledging in his recent report “Most lone parents
want to work” went on to advocate conditions on their receipt of benefits. Freud
and the Government justify increasing conditionality by pointing to countries like Sweden
and Denmark where more lone parents are in work. Yet
lone parents in the UK are a different cohort. They
are younger, likely to have more children and more likely to live in poverty than their
European counterparts. Crucially, UK parents contribute around 75% of the
costs of childcare, compared to 11% in Sweden[1] whilst parental contributions across the EU are
between 25% and 30%.
All the international
evidence suggests that, where there is more publicly funded childcare, there are higher
lone parent employment rates and lower rates of child poverty. A review of 20 European countries showed that it
was childcare, not work tests, which explained differences in lone parent employment
rates. The 2005
DWP Five Year Strategy further underlines this
point by discussing the failed work tests in New Zealand introduced without a good
childcare infrastructure. Freud himself says that the removal of eligibility to
income support of lone parents with older children needs to be tied into the availability
of childcare.
For lone parents with a disabled child or a disability
themselves, the absence of suitable publicly funded childcare and lack of support around
flexible working makes employment very difficult. Conditionality
proposals could seriously hurt these groups. DWP
statistics show only 19% of lone parents whose youngest child is over 11 claim income
support in the first place, 25% are caring for a disabled child and 28% have a disability.
The DWP is aware of the problems lone parents face, stating in
its Five Year Strategy: “…we think it would be wrong simply to move lone parents
from Income Support onto the Jobseeker’s Allowance regime: an unrestricted
requirement to search for work is inappropriate, given the complex and difficult
circumstances many lone parents face.... Such an approach would be expensive, unfair and
ineffectual."
We should be building on the success of the voluntary approach
of the New Deal for Lone Parents which increased the single parent employment rate from
696,000 lone parents in employment in 1997 to 1,008,000 in 2006.
The Government and Freud know lone parents want
to work, yet their proposals pander to the stereotype of the lazy, work-shy mother. Lone parents face very real difficulties juggling
the demands of family life with employment and finding and affording good quality
childcare. And sometimes it is the right
choice to decide to be a full-time mother. Let’s
hope the Government take a more objective look at what works during the ‘extensive’
consultation David Freud says is needed.
social security |
