Trying to push lone parents into work by making it more difficult for them to claim benefits will only benefit children if parents can get decent jobs and if affordable, high quality child care is available says a new think tank report.
Without increased support for lone parent families, increasing conditions on benefits will put children at risk and increase hardship and poverty says the Institute for Public Policy Research report..
Using evidence from the US the report says that forcing lone
parents into work without boosting their skills or career prospects
can lock them into dead-end jobs and entrenched poverty.
Sanctions and sweeteners: rights and responsibilities in the
benefits system, by Kate Stanley. www.ippr.org
