Lone parents, work and welfare reform
An introduction to CPAG’s submission on the Social Security (Lone Parents and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2008
Much is made of the importance of good parenting and being able to give children care and attention. Most lone parents have not (at least since the 1960s) been required to work as a condition of getting financial support from the state. But now the Government is making it a condition of getting benefit that most lone parents with school age children are available for work and will have to claim income based jobseekers allowance (JSA) rather than income support. The parent must therefore sign on and look for work as a condition of obtaining their weekly income. From autumn 2008, lone parents whose youngest child is 12 and who are making a fresh claim will come under the new rules. The change is being staged so that by October 2010 the new rules will apply to all lone parents whose youngest child is seven.
Lone parents, in CPAG’s view, should have a real choice about deciding whether to take up work or remain on income support. We do not believe that the proposed change is about creating new opportunities as claimed (there is already a voluntary scheme helping lone parents into employment); it is about pushing those who have to claim means-tested benefits into work, without full regard to the availability of jobs, the welfare of the children or lone parents involved. In fact the new scheme reduces opportunities by removing the right of lone parents to pursue higher education while claiming income support. The scope for acquiring new skills via New Deal is strictly limited.
In practice many lone parents want to work and their chances of getting paid employment increase with the age of their children (although the lack of suitable activities for older children remains a concern). So tackling barriers to employment and ensuring lone parents access good sustainable jobs is the way forward.
Financial hardship?
But CPAG believes that this government policy change is not only unnecessary but it creates additional complexity and anxiety and may generate various financial problems for lone parents:
- Lone parents who do not engage in work related activities – many of whom are likely to come from the most vulnerable groups (they may have mental health problems or learning disabilities) will be subject to the harsher JSA penalties regime - which allows benefit to be withdrawn completely. They may be left trying to access financial support by applying for hardship payments of JSA (a discretionary benefit).
- If they move into full time work they lose free school meals (vital for those trying to budget with increased food prices) and the automatic passport to maximum housing benefit. Working can sometimes generate a higher income, but it may not be secure and often work cannot be sustained. Moving in and out of work generates financial insecurity for parents and stress for children as they move in and out of childcare. High levels of in-work poverty are an ongoing source of concern when parents move into or out of work the child tax credit paid will have to be recalculated. Where a parent has been working in the past and is repaying an overpayment, the amount recoverable may go up.
Moreover the proposals fail to protect lone parents with disabled children if they qualify for only the lowest rate of disability living allowance.
Childcare
One of CPAG’s main concerns about the new regime is the inadequacy of good quality affordable childcare arrangements. We believe that lone parents are best placed to decide whether their child would benefit from being in childcare at all, and to decide whether the childcare on offer is appropriate for their child. We are also concerned that as lone parents move in and out of work, their children will also move in and out of childcare because the childcare element is provided within working tax credit. The proposals may damage child wellbeing and exacerbate educational inequalities. (This is discussed in further detail in our 2 skint 4 school briefing – see link at the foot of this article.)
Lone parents need flexible employers – who will allow them to take time off when their child is sick or excluded from school – and flexible childcare providers capable of meeting changing needs.
But it is not the parent who will have the final say about whether the childcare available is suitable for their child, and a system of sanctions will be in place before the date when the Government can guarantee decent childcare is available.
An erosion of rights?
The changes that affect lone parents are part of a general trend to impose additional ‘behavioural’ conditions for gaining access to certain means tested benefits. The repeated justification for imposing conditionality is based on a call for ‘rights and responsibilities’. Since such conditionality applies largely to those claiming means-tested social security benefits, additional responsibilities (to seek employment) are being placed on some of the most vulnerable members of society, while their rights are being eroded. Increased conditionality will make it more difficult for some of the poorest in society to access the benefits they need. It undermines the concept of rights to social security which have evolved gradually since the incorporation of supplementary benefit into regulations in 1981.
Access to decent rights is important in empowering people. The increased application of conditions and sanctions works against this agenda.
The current trend to make rights increasingly subject to the exercise of certain responsibilities makes it all the more important that serious consideration be given to the recent call for a new Bill of Rights for the UK by a Committee of the Houses of Lords and Commons. Most importantly they suggest that it should include some reference to economic and social rights although in a declaratory form. Finally the committee argues ‘that there is a strong case for any Bill of Rights to include detailed rights for certain vulnerable groups’ including children, ethnic minorities and disabled people.
The Government argues that the flexibility of the JSA rules will allow Jobcentre Plus to operate the new scheme flexibly. CPAG does not agree that JSA is either flexible or a suitable benefit for lone parents. It was only after a series of meetings between CPAG, lone parent organisations and the DWP and the Minister that certain modifications were made to the JSA rules in recognition of the special needs of lone parents. But these changes still do not go nearly far enough. To find out more about CPAG’s analysis of this scheme please follow the link below.
Read CPAG’s submission on the Social Security (Lone Parents and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2008
Read CPAG’s 2 skint 4 school briefing
Read a news story about the proposed Bill of Rights on the Guardian website
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