All single parents whose youngest child is aged seven to nine will automatically be switched from income support to jobseeker’s allowance today, meaning they must seek work or risk having their benefits cut.
Gingerbread estimates that the changes threaten up to 111,000 single parents, who must look for work at a time when vacant positions are low, and job-search support and childcare assistance are inadequate.
"The coalition government says it wants to make work pay and support single parents into work, but the reality is that today thousands of single parents are being set up to fail," said Gingerbread’s chief executive Fiona Weir.
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