Single parents on benefits being ‘punished’ by Tory policy pushing them to work 30-hour week

Vast majority of parents in Save the Children survey say they cannot make the new system work

Struggling single parents are being “punished” and set up to fail by an “unrealistic” government policy that forces them into near-full-time work when their children turn three, according to parents and new research.

A year after the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, forced parents on benefits to work for 30 hours a week or risk seeing their benefits docked, the vast majority of parents say they cannot make the new system work.