Monday, March 05, 2007

BBC NEWS | Politics | Blair unveils welfare reform plan

BBC NEWS | Politics | Blair unveils welfare reform plan

I can see why the government is worrying about this. It needs as many people as possible to be working to support an ageing population.

On the other hand I worry that this puts us on a slippery slope. It may sound quite reasonable to want lone parents of 12 year olds to work, but most of them already do and despite that half the children in poverty have a working parent.

I heard someone from an American think-tank this morning advocating putting lone parents back to work before their child is one year old. That might make good economic sense to a government in the short-term, but I'm yet to be convinced of the social outcomes in years to come.