Tory’s ‘lower benefits OK for under-25s’ claim slated
Single-parent group defends young mothers
A TORY Minister has been accused of ignorance over his defence of lower benefits for young parents by claiming they are more likely to live with someone else.
Will Quince said the under-25s have lower “earnings expectations” and claimed the two-tier system is about work incentives. Satwat Rehman, CEP of One Parent Families Scotland, said: “The Government says under-25s are more likely to live in someone else’s household, but this woefully misunderstands the reality of young parents’ lives.”
Young parents used to be paid the same benefits as over-25s, but this changed under Universal Credit.
A recent report estimated single parents are £65 worse off a month – while for parent couples, it is £100 a month.
More than 100 signatories to a petition – including MPs, charities and unions – warned that young parents and their children were being pushed into poverty because of the age-based inequality.
However, the response by Welfare Delivery Minister Quince to the concerns has astonished campaigners.
He wrote: “The lower rates for younger claimants who are under the age of 25 years reflects the fact that they are more likely to live in someone else’s household and have lower earnings expectations.”
Rehman said: “In our many years of supporting young parents – overwhelmingly young women – we could count on one hand the number who were living with their parents.
“We would urge the Government not to defend the indefensible but to look at the facts and return to the entirely common-sense approach of ensuring young parents are treated by the social security system as the adults they very clearly are.”
Scottish Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy said: “There cannot simply be an assumption from the UK Government that young parents will be able to turn to others for support, they should be entitled to the same assistance from social security as everyone else.”
SNP MP David Linden said: “The British Government must do the right thing and end the Young Parent Penalty.”
Blaze at tenement
Firefighters attended a blaze on the ground floor of a four-storey tenement building in Daisy Street, in Glasgow’s Govanhill. Two people were injured.