Beginning today, new unemployment claims by single parents whose youngest child is 10 or 11 will be moved off welfare and onto the new ?Jobseekers Allowance? program for now on. Already existing claimants who fit into this category will be switched in or before February 2010. Theoretically, the program supports single parents by requiring and/or encouraging them to leave children home, attend weekly interviews, attend weekly sessions on part-time employment opportunities, and acquiring skills. Many contemporary experts believe that the government has done a poor job thus far of actually providing the support services it requires, and feel that the government must commit to and uphold the promises it makes.
See "Benefit squeeze fears for single parents", Nicholas Timmins, Financial Times, October 26, 2009