Taxes 'penalise couple families'

Lone parents can face financial hardship

Government strategy for tackling child poverty is penalising two-parent families, a think tank has suggested.

The study by Labour MP Frank Field for Reform says tax credits discriminate against working couples and discourage single parents from finding partners.

Nearly a quarter of children in two-parent families live in relative poverty - almost the same as when Labour came to power in 1997, he said.

But the government said tax credits target the most needy.

The report said in 2004/5 two parents with two children had to earn £240 a week to lift themselves above the poverty line, while a single parent with two children had to earn just £76.

'Misleading report'

Mr Field, a former welfare minister, pointed out that two-parent families receive the same level of tax credit as a single parent family, and are also unlikely to receive child maintenance.

This, he said, acts as a disincentive to lone parents to find a new partner as they fear they risk losing out on benefits.

Campaigners however rejected suggestions of discrimination in favour of single parents.

One Parent Families chief executive Chris Pond said: "It is adding insult to injury to suggest that lone parents, half of whose children are living in poverty, are receiving disproportionate support."

To disregard the higher risk of poverty faced by one-parent families would be a brutal disregard of children's well-being Kate Green, Child Poverty Action Group

He said the report was "misleading" in suggesting lone parents were better off than couple-families in the same situation.

Child Poverty Action Group's chief executive Kate Green said children in lone parent families face a 50% risk of being in poverty, compared to a 23% risk for children in two-parent families.

"To disregard the higher risk of poverty faced by one-parent families would be a brutal disregard of children's well-being."

However, she did agree with Mr Field that more must be done to make work pay for one-parent, and two-parent, families.

She said lone parents needed better access to affordable child care, training opportunities and less employer discrimination towards them.

A Treasury spokesman said the government has reversed the long-term trend of rising child poverty.

Some 600,000 children have been lifted out of poverty since 1998/9 - almost half of whom were in couple-families, he said.

"Tax credits treat couple and lone-parent households equally, rather than favouring one family arrangement over the other," he added.