12 October 2006 - Next stage of help for lone parents to make the move off benefits and into work
Lone parents will get an extra £20 on top of their benefits if they take active steps towards work under a pilot scheme being rolled out next year.
The next stage of plans to help lone parents make the move from benefits to the workplace will be tested out across the country from April, Minister for Employment and Welfare-Reform, Jim Murphy MP announced today.
As part of the next stage of welfare to work, lone parents with children aged 11 and over will be eligible for a Work Related Activity Premium (WRAP), worth £20 a week if they agree to take the necessary steps to prepare themselves for entering and competing in the workplace.
The WRAP will be supported by the introduction of quarterly Work Focused Interviews (WFI) with a personal adviser where a plan of action is agreed that will help them make that step off benefits and into work.
Mr Murphy speaking at the Inclusion and Child Poverty Action Group conference said:
“Helping lone parents find employment is a vitally important part of our wider strategy to eradicating child poverty. Children of lone parents are three times more likely to live in poverty.
“Nine out of ten lone parents say they want to work, either now or in the future, and work-focused interviews ensure they all know about the range of opportunities available to them. The introduction of the Work Related Activity Premium pilot will enable us to test if the extra financial assistance will encourage lone parents with older children to actively take steps to make the transition back into the work place.
“New Deal for Lone Parents is working. More than 458,000 lone parents have been helped into work through New Deal and more than a million lone parents are now in work for the first time ever.
The new schemes will be introduced from April 2007 in the New Deal Plus for Lone Parents Pilot areas. These include Bradford, Sandwell and Dudley, Leicestershire, North London, South East London, South East Wales and Edinburgh, Lothian and Borders.
Notes to Editors
- The WFI for Lone Parents was outlined in the Welfare Reform Green Paper. The WRAP programme will pilot the payment of £20 a week premium, for six months, if a lone parent opts to undertake formal steps to return to the labour market.
- The premium will be paid on top of their ordinary Income Support entitlement. It will be piloted on lone parents who have been on benefits for at least six months and whose youngest child is aged 11 and over. The allocation of the new premium will be conditional on the lone parent undertaking work-related activity agreed with a Personal Adviser
- Further details on the Government’s proposals for Welfare Reform can be found at: www.dwp.gov.uk/welfarereform
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