Half a million jobless parents on benefits face up to 30 hours a week searching for work after overhaul by ministers

• Unemployed parents will have to spend nearly twice as long looking for work

Half a million jobless parents on benefits will have to spend nearly twice as long looking for work, after an overhaul by ministers.

Previously, parents with young children could spend as little as 16 hours a week looking for work. But changes from today mean they can be ordered to spend as many as 30 hours a week trying to find a job.

This will include activities such as updating CVs or developing skills through courses and workshops.

Alternatively, Universal Credit claimants can increase their hours in an existing part-time job.

Half a million jobless parents on benefits will have to spend nearly twice as long looking for work, after an overhaul by minister (stock photo)

Parents who fail to meet the commitments without good reason face benefit sanctions – meaning their income would be cut (file photo)

Parents who fail to meet the commitments without good reason face benefit sanctions – meaning their income would be cut. The overhaul is aimed at reducing the bill for welfare and help fill hundreds of thousands of job vacancies.

Work and pensions minister Mel Stride said the move would reduce the burden on taxpayers who are bankrolling jobless parents. He said that the aim was to instil the value of work into households to break a cycle of generations claiming benefits.

‘We are pulling down barriers that stop parents working and fulfilling their potential, because we know full-time work not only benefits Mum and Dad but the whole family too,’ Mr Stride said. ‘These changes will support thousands on their back-to-work journey.’

Writing in The Sun, Mr Stride said that ‘for some families work still isn’t the norm’, adding: ‘That just isn’t fair. Not for the taxpayers who foot the benefit bill. Nor for the children growing up in workless households, who are five times more likely to be in poverty.’

More than 5.3 million Britons are currently on Incapacity Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance or receiving Universal Credit because they are unemployed. This equates to the population of Scotland – despite there being nearly a million job vacancies in the UK.

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