Tough new measures to get unemployed single parents into work could leave them worse off and should be delayed because of the economic crisis, a senior government advisor said today.

Sir Richard Tilt, chair of the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) and one of the architects of the plan to force lone parents, disabled people and the long-term unemployed to seek work or have their benefits withdrawn, said ministers should reconsider in light of the current state of the job market.

Sir Richard said the welfare-to-work drive, to be introduced next week, could push lone parent families into poverty and should be set back by one or two years until the fog of recession lifts.

Currently, single parents with a youngest child under 16 can claim income support without having to show they are seeking work.

But from next week, lone parents with a youngest child of 12 or over who apply for income support will be put on Jobseekers’ Allowance and expected to look for work or face sanctions, including having their benefits cut by up to 40 per cent.

Only those with disabled or sick children will be exempt.

By 2010, the rule will be extended to lone parents with a youngest child aged seven or over.

Sir Richard said: “Benefit rates are relatively low and if you are going to reduce someone’s benefit for a few weeks by 40 per cent you are pushing people much closer to poverty.

“Of course, the child will suffer, but it’s not the child that has fallen foul of the system.”

His remarks will come as a blow to ministers who have already faced a backlash over the reforms from left-wing MPs and charities who claim they will penalise the most vulnerable among Britain’s 4.5 million benefits claimants.

However, Tony McNulty, employment minister, told the BBC that the economic downturn meant it was more important than ever to equip people for work.

“In the 1980s and 1990s people were moved onto incapacity benefits and left to languish with no help or support to return to work,” he said.

“These changes will ensure that lone parents are ready for work whenever jobs become available.”

James Purnell, Work and Pension Secretary, rejected calls for a delay.

“I think it would be wrong, at a time when it may be harder for people to find work, to provide them with less help,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“We know that our help works; we know that the help they get from the voluntary sector, from providers and from JobCentre Plus works, it changes people’s lives.”

Chris Graying, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary said the changes were essential.

“It would be disastrous for Britain to do a U-turn on welfare reform,” he said.

“It would have the effect of making poverty worse and condemning millions of people in some of our most deprived communities to endless benefit dependency.

“Right now, when the jobs market is tough, we need real action to help people who’ve been on benefits for a long time to make the journey back into work and not simply assume that because unemployment is rising that there’s no hope for them.”

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