Work Wise: Research Centre - Lone parents need more incentives totake on 'mini-jobs'

www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop/eBooks/2110-lone-parents-minijobs.pdf

Greater incentives are needed within the benefits system to encourage lone parents living on benefits to take up "mini-jobs" of less than 16 hours a week.

A report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found many lone parents are keen to take jobs of shorter hours but are prevented from doing so because the financial incentives are "currently very poor".

Recommendations for reform include decreasing the qualifying hours for working tax credit, which is currently 16 hours, and increasing the amount of earnings that are disregarded within income support, housing benefit and council tax, which is the report's favoured option.

Currently the amount of earnings disregarded within income support is £20 a week, but if this was raised across all means-tested benefits to 16 times the minimum wage, the report estimates there would be a 5.4 per cent increase in the number of lone parents in work. This option is also favoured in terms of cost effectiveness as it is estimated that such a move would increase lone parents income by £1.40 for every £1 spent by the government.