Charity criticises Lib Dem plans to cut lone parent benefits
06.03.06

Liberal Democrat proposals to cut income support for lone parents have been criticised by a leading children’s charity.

Lone parents can currently claim income support until their youngest child is aged 16, but the Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions spokesman David Laws is proposing bringing the age down in stages, starting when the youngest child starts secondary school.

Mr Laws told the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in Harrogate: “Our outdated benefits system continues to encourage single parents to remain on benefits until their youngest child is 16.”

But Kate Green, Chief Executive of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), said today:

“Many lone parents want to work and more of them are doing so, but more needs to be done to remove the barriers in their way, such as the availability of childcare.

“Although we support measures to help more lone parents to work, cutting benefits is not the way forward. David Laws claims his policy would reduce child poverty, but in fact it would plunge thousands of the most vulnerable children into even greater poverty.

“The Liberal Democrats should concentrate on removing the barriers lone parents face before returning to work, such as the availability of good quality and affordable childcare, and ensuring that the jobs they enter are sustainable and adequately paid.”

CPAG have welcomed the new Liberal Democrat leader’s focus on social justice, but called on the party to sign up to the Government’s target to halve child poverty by 2010 and end it by 2020.

“Sir Menzies Campbell is absolutely right to talk about the need to wage a war on poverty, but we now need to see policies from the Liberal Democrats to back it up. If the Lib Dems are serious about social justice a good start would be to sign up to the Government’s target to end child poverty.”

For further information please contact:
Alex Belardinelli
CPAG Press Officer
Tel. 020 7812 5216 or 07816 909302
abelardinelli@cpag.org.uk