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Moves in last month’s Budget to make it easier for lone parents to move into work have been welcomed by child welfare organisations.

But there was also concern that parents of very young children should have the choice to care for them at home without being penalised.

The launch of child trust funds in the Budget announcement was also welcomed, although the chancellor was criticised for failing to give children in poverty the help they need now.

Child trust funds will be set up for every baby born since last September and endowed with £250, or up to £500 for children from the poorest families. The funds, which will mature when the child reaches 18, may be topped up by the government or the child’s

relatives.

The Child Poverty Action Group welcomed the funds, and the higher payment for poorer families. But director Martin Barnes warned that to many families this will sound like "jam tomorrow rather than help today".

Barnes was disappointed that the much-criticised social fund had not been reformed, and that no rise in the child tax credit was announced.

He said that without a significant increase in the child tax credit for poor families the government would miss its 2004 milestone of lifting a million children out of poverty.

Barnardo’s, too, was disappointed by the Budget. Policy officer Neera Sharma said that without committing extra resources and adopting a strategic approach, the government would not end child poverty by 2019.

The charity disputes the chancellor’s strategy for full employment as a route out of poverty. "There are many parents for whom work is not an option - particularly the parents of the UK’s 360,000 disabled children." Barnardo’s has called for a minimum income to take all families out of poverty whether the adults are in work or not.

Mary MacLeod, chief executive of the National Family and Parenting Institute, said the moves to make part-time work pay for lone parents, and the introduction of new housing benefit regulations for lone parents, would help a group of families who were very vulnerable to poverty.