Lone parents are to be offered  extra help to get training and work experience while their children are at nursery school, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Yvette Cooper announced today.

Lone parents will also be able to keep £50 of their wages before losing any benefit if they get jobs for less than 16 hours a week.

Parents of three to six-year-old children in South London, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Tees Valley will be the first to access the extra help through new Progression to Work Pathfinders.

The plans aim to help lone parents begin preparing for work through  training, work experience or CV preparation, or to find jobs that fit in with nursery and school hours. They will be obliged to take up help, but only during hours when their children are at school or nursery school.

Cooper says: “Helping parents into jobs so they can support their families is the best way to lift children out of poverty. We know that around 80 per cent of lone parents are already working or would like to work. We want to help them do that in a way that also supports their family life.

“We are giving parents more support to get ready to go back to work while their children are at nursery school, but in return we do expect people to take up this extra help on offer.”