14 September 2007
Mature students who receive Income Support may have to drop their courses under government proposals to cut Child Benefit payments and force lone parents back to work, Public Finance has learnt.
Anti-poverty campaigners have called for swift ministerial clarification over the use of education courses under the benefits regime, following plans to move lone parents off Income Support and on to Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) from next year. Unlike Income Support recipients, JSA claimants are obliged to actively seek, and be available for, work.
A green paper on welfare reform, published by Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain in July, suggests switching lone parents to the JSA regime once their youngest child reaches the age of 12 from 2008, and seven from 2010.
Lone parents can currently claim Income Support until their youngest child is 16, and many study for a return to work.
But the green paper does not reveal whether parents who have already undertaken multi-year courses will be forced to drop them from next year so that they can meet the government's JSA criteria.
The Child Poverty Action Group has raised concerns over the impact of forcing parents back into work.
Speaking at the organisation's annual conference on September 6, Ed Graham, welfare rights expert at CPAG, said: 'It is not clear what the government intends to do with lone parents undertaking degree courses, for example, but the qualifying criteria for JSA could result in many people being forced to drop their education courses. The issue needs clarification and quickly.'
PFsep2007
