Think-tank targets single parents
Updated on 29 November 2008
Single parents with children as young as two should be forced to seek work, a Labour think-tank has said.
The move would be a major shake-up of the current system which goes much further than either Government or Conservative plans.
The savings would be used to help fund universal childcare and higher maternity leave payments.
The policy is one of a raft of radical steps being urged on Gordon Brown by New Labour think-tank Progress.
They also include a right for private firms and charities to bid to run more public services and ten-year "franchises" for services such as GPs and colleges, devised by Blairite former cabinet minister Alan Milburn.
He will be among several senior party figures, including cabinet ministers such as Lord Mandelson and Hazel Blears, speaking at the organisation's annual conference in London.
A senior government welfare adviser recently called on the Government to postpone moves to force single parents with a youngest child of 12 or over to seek work or training or face sanctions including benefit cuts.
Sir Richard Tilt, the chairman of the social security advisory committee, said the economic downturn was making it harder for people to find work.
Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell, who is speaking at the event but is not expected to tackle specific reforms, has rejected the criticisms and says the recession makes such reforms more important.
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