Citizens Advice: Single parents hindered from working

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Citizens Advice: Single parents hindered from working

Thu 6th Nov 2008

Single parents are facing barriers to employment, Citizens Advice has said.

In its report, Barriers to Work, it says that single parents have to overcome multiple hurdles as they try to move from benefits into working.

According to its research, many lone parents want to work part-time in order to accommodate their childcare responsibilities.

But the benefits system can be to the detriment of part-time workers.

Single parents can earn only up to £20 a week before they lose benefits, but are not eligible for tax credit financial support until they work at least 16 hours a week.

Furthermore, there is a gap between the end of benefits and the beginning of salaries being paid.

Another recent Citizens Advice report found certain problems within the self-help debt advice services.

There are a large number of such agencies available and their approach was found to be "somewhat inconsistent".

David Harker, Citizens Advice chief executive, called for individuals from the credit, debt collection and advice sectors to combine to devise a set of proposals for self-help, to be implemented by 2010.

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