Exclusion from unemployment benefit – The Families League wants a plan against poverty for single parent families

Exclusion from unemployment benefit – The Families League wants a plan against poverty for single parent families

The Families League wants “a plan against poverty in single parent families to be put in place urgently”, it said on Tuesday in a press release. It criticizes the effects of limiting Back to work benefits to three years, which will leave thousands of French-speaking people without unemployment benefit. Among them are many women who are bringing children up alone. According to the FGTB, 31,500 French-speaking job seekers have been excluded from unemployment benefit since the first of January. Though we don’t know how many will be eligible for CPAS, women and single parent families in particular are the most effected, the Families League says. A third of those excluded are the heads of their household, compared to 10% living alone.

“Single parent families are three times as likely to be in poverty compared to two-parent families. The non-payment of maintenance after a separation is the main cause of this higher poverty risk”, says the association. According to studies by The Families League, maintenance is irregularly paid in half of cases.

The State’s budget for 2015 will not be enough to cover advances given by the Federal Maintenance Debt Service, the SECAL, to families dealing with non-payment, the association says.

The Families League asks authorities to adopt urgent measures “to more aptly support single parent families, those most vulnerable, and actively fight child poverty”.

(Source: Belga)


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