#SingleParents of pre-school #children face #sanctions #threat by @Number10gov @DWPgovuk cc @Gingerbread Single parents with very young children will be put at risk of inappropriate sanctions as 10 Downing Street rolls out new #IncomeSupport rules to overstretched jobcentres today, warns Gingerbread. Jobcentre advisers today gain new powers to #sanction single parents with children under five who claim income support. Single parents with very young children will be required to go to more jobcentre interviews or attend training or work experience, dependent on the age of their child, and will face sanctions if they fail to comply. Gingerbread warns that the new regulations focus too heavily on sanctions, when single parents are already calling out for more support to get work-ready. Gingerbreads Fiona Weir said: “Many single parents do want to work before their child reaches school age, some decide that’s not right for their family, and others have little choice financially. Whenever parents decide they’re ready to go to work, they should get support that helps them do just that; but we’re concerned that the new rules will become little more than a tick box exercise with punitive sanctions attached. “We know that single parents are already often wrongly sanctioned and, based on the calls our helpline is already getting, we fear that this situation will only get worse as these new rules are introduced.” Gingerbread has already been hearing from single parents with children as young as six months old whose jobcentre advisers have wrongly told them they must start looking for work or face having their benefits cut ahead of the new rules’ introduction. 423,000 single parents with children aged under five claim income support and will be affected by the new regulations. If sanctioned, they will lose £14.48 a week for an indefinite period.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 23:08:52 +0000
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