Overview

Key recommendations for making Universal Credit work better for lone parents include:

  • End sanctioning for parents (when payments are garnished for failure to meet requirements such as a certain number of hours of job seeking)
  • More flexibility to support the mental health of claimants, similar to the Government-backed 'breathing space' scheme currently available to people experiencing debt. This could mean requirements such as job seeking and attending job centre appointments being temporarily suspended for people experiencing mental health issues.

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