Welfare Reform Bill

I, too, support the amendment moved so ably by the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale. I am particularly concerned about the position of single parents with children aged seven and over, who will from October 2010 have to claim JSA if they have no other source of income. Lone parents often face extra barriers to employment. A high proportion have low or no skills and very often a significant proportion will have care of a disabled child who may need full-time care. Those parents are often more vulnerable than other groups and may find themselves unemployed for more than two years and thus mandated to take part in this programme. I hope that my noble friend will understand that there is widespread concern about the provision in the Bill which extends the requirement to take part in the schemes to single parents with young children. I hope that my intervention will convince him that this is a widely held belief among Members on my side of the House as well as those on the same side of the House as the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale. I would prefer single parents to be excluded altogether from the obligation to participate. One of the problems is that there is not much affordable childcare in many areas, which is another reason why single parents should be excluded from the requirement to participate. I hope that my noble friend will look with some sympathy on the case made by the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, and others in support of the amendment.