Jobs not handouts will drag families out of poverty, IDS tells parents as he unveils plans to tackle welfare dependency

Majority of children lifted out of poverty if one parent works 35 hours a week at the minimum wage or 24 hours if they are a lone parent, under reforms Handouts helps fuel drug addiction and welfare dependency, Ian Duncan Smith with declare Changes aimed at turning around troublesome families

By James Chapman

PUBLISHED: 18:32 EST, 13 June 2012 | UPDATED: 05:26 EST, 14 June 2012

Parents should get a job rather than rely on handout if they want to lift their children out of poverty, Iain Duncan Smith will declare today.

The Work and Pensions Secretary will insist that employment, not a few extra pounds in welfare benefits, is the key to lifting families out of poverty, as he unveils plans to replace all other out of work benefits from 2013, with the Coalitions new universal credit.

Mr Duncan Smith claims the reform will remove incentives to stay on welfare rather than moving into work.

New targets: Iain Duncan Smith

Mr Duncan Smith will also announce plans to tear up the method of measuring child poverty by family income, introduced under Labour, insisting that determining childrens wellbeing simply on the basis of income can be perverse.

He will claim that research shows that giving money could in fact do more harm than good, for example by fuelling drug addiction or removing the incentive to find employment.

Our latest analysis suggests that universal credit will ensure the vast majority of children will be lifted out of poverty if at least one parent works 35 hours a week at the minimum wage or 24 hours if they are a lone parent, he will say today.

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Jobs not handouts will drag families out of poverty, IDS tells parents as he unveils plans to tackle welfare dependency