'Learn English or lose jobless benefits'

13 April 2012

Unemployment benefits may be withdrawn from claimants who refuse to learn English.

The threat was made by the Government today as it attempted to deny damaging claims in a study that its welfare policies were creating a 'dependency culture'.

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'Extend flexible working to all'

A row also broke out today over a minister's call for all workers to get the right to demand flexible working hours, which business groups said would increase their costs.

Under the plans, jobless people who do not speak English will have to show they are taking steps to learn the language in order to qualify for full benefits.

Some 40,000 claimants could be affected but ministers say it is in their interests to learn English.

Employment Minister Jim Murphy said poor English was a barrier to finding work and a reason why those from minority ethnic groups earn on average a third less than others.

"This is a social injustice in our society which is not only bad for individuals, families and their communities, but is a barrier against social cohesion and is bad for Britain," Mr Murphy will say in a speech.

Part of the £4.5 million spent each year on translation services at job centres will be used to help pay for English lessons instead.

Other welfare reforms being floated today include getting lone parents back to work when their children are still young and hiring private companies to find jobs for the long-term unemployed.

But a scathing study by a Rightleaning think tank said Labour's policies had created a situation where a third of families are now dependent on the state for half or more of their income.

Based on official figures, it revealed that seven million households receive more income from handouts than any other source.

But authors Civitas said the figure was far higher for single-parent homes, with 61 per cent relying on state support compared with nine per cent of two-parent households.

The level of dependency has soared since the Sixties when just five per cent of families relied on the state.

The group claimed that Gordon Brown's tax credits - which bolster low incomes with a form of welfare - was 'only the most prominent example of welfare policies intended to create a grateful electorate rather than free-thinking citizens'.

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