Welfare Reform Bill

Amendment 3 would mean that claimants could be required to participate in "work for your benefit" programmes only where there is a guaranteed and predicable source of good quality, affordable and flexible childcare available to them that meets the needs of the parents and the child or children in the claimant’s household. That is the thrust of the point which the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, expanded on. When he introduced his amendment, he ranged more widely and perhaps I may comment on a couple of his points. He talked about the structure of the Bill being a framework Bill. That is not unusual; as the noble Lord will well know, social security Bills and welfare benefit Bills are structured on that basis, partly because piloting or pathfinders are embedded within them, and there is a need for flexibility on some of the detail in due course.