Return to Work 6/12/00
Responding to Michael Portillo's proposal in a radio interview this morning that lone parents with children over 11 years of age would be required to return to work, Amanda Ball, Gingerbread's new Chief Executive said:
"This was proposed primarily as a way of saving public expenditure but it does not add up. The majority of lone parents do return to work as their children get older. Those who do not are often:
- those caring for disabled or severely disabled children and/or elderly or sick relatives
- in poor health themselves
- new lone parents and requiring time to sort out pressing issues such as supporting their children, domestic violence and its aftermath or housing issues, or
- those who are our of touch with the labour market and require training or education before returning to work
This suggests that their return to work could only take place with additional public expenditure to deliver services such as respite and day care and more education and training
Gingerbread hopes Mr. Portillo's announcement does not signal a return to 1990's style punitive attitudes to lone parents, targeting them as suitable cases for public expenditure cuts, which contributed so much to lone parent and child poverty and social exclusion".