Cameron's welfare proposals will 'remove safety net' for families in need

In a speech setting out his aspirations for the welfare system after the next general election in 2015, Cameron said that the time had come for a national debate on what the welfare system is for and who should receive support through benefits.

He said that at present the system was unfair, favouring couples who are out-of-work and have children ahead of couples who are working and waiting until they can afford to have children.

Cameron said: “The time has come to go back to first principles; to have a real national debate and ask some fundamental, searching questions about working-age welfare.

“There are more than 150,000 people who have been claiming income support for more than a year who have three or more children and 57,000 who have four or more children.

“The bigger picture is that today, one in six children in Britain is living in a workless household – one of the highest rates in Europe.

“Quite simply, we have been encouraging working-age people to have children and not work, when we should be enabling working-age people to work and have children.”

Fiona Weir, chief executive of single-parent family charity Gingerbread, said that Cameron’s rhetoric could be damaging.

“The Prime Minister is trying to sound tough on welfare reform at a time when his promises to make work a route out of poverty are stalling,” she said.

“Most single parents work, and most who don’t work want to, but can’t get a job. One in five of those working full-time still lives in poverty. The Prime Minister needs to focus on delivering the welfare reform changes already enacted, not thinking up a new round of punitive measures that will stoke up financial hardship, relationship strain and stigma for hundreds of thousands of families.

“Most single parents have small families, and over half only have one child. The Prime Minister risks perpetuating damaging myths and stereotypes.”

Family Action’s chief executive Helen Dent said promoting a culture of "blame was unhelpful.

"We need to make sure the debate the public is hearing is fair: we are hearing a lot of blame attached to large families and not enough about proposals to tackle the lack of affordable rental housing, childcare or decently paid work. A stable home is vital for children if they are to get the most out of their education,” she said.

Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children’s Society, added: “The Prime Minister has set out ‘the first principle’ that this country’s welfare system is there to provide a genuine safety net to those who need it. Every child must have the right to a basic level of support – no matter what family circumstance they are born into.

“Further cuts would force even more vulnerable children into greater difficulties, removing the very safety net the Prime Minister describes.”