Lone parents could face cuts to their benefits, under government plans.
Lone parents could face cuts to their benefits under government plans to get more of them into work.
Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton is expected to announce proposals to encourage lone parents into jobs instead of relying on benefit.
Currently, single parents receive payments until their youngest child is 16. Ministers want to cut that to 11.
Currently, single parents receive benefit until their youngest child is 16 years old. It is thought ministers want to cut that age limit to 11.
Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton says this will stop lone parents moving "seamlessly" on to incapacity benefit once their child-related benefits stop.
They argue that high quality childcare now exists enabling parents to get jobs more easily.
But charity One Parent Families said many of those affected by the plans were caring for disabled children.
Mr Hutton is expected to say: "The UK has one of the highest proportions of families headed by a lone parent in Europe."
In a speech later, Mr Hutton will say Britain has one of the lowest levels of lone parent employment in Europe, with almost half on benefits.
He will claim that since 1997 the proportion of lone parents in work has risen by 11 percentage points to 56.5%.
He will say he has evidence that up to a third of lone parents move on to incapacity benefit once their child benefit ends as their youngest reaches 16.
But he will add: "Despite the progress we have made in increasing the lone parent employment rate... we still have the lowest lone parent employment rate of any major European country."
'Child poverty'
BBC Newsnight's political editor Martha Kearney says any measure affecting lone parents is likely to prove controversial among Labour MPs.
Mr Hutton has already unveiled plans to to get one million incapacity benefit claimants back into work over the next 10 years, saving £7bn a year.
One of the biggest revolts early on in Labour's rule came in 1997 when 47 MPs voted against cuts in lone parent benefit, our correspondent said.
I think we need to give parents encouragement and support to take well-paid jobs if they are able to do that but to give them the choice Chris Pond, One Parent Families
In a speech later, he will say: "If a person has been out of the labour market for 10 or 15 years, during which time they have had little help or support, they are obviously going to find it difficult moving straight from Income Support on to Job Seekers Allowance and being required to actively seek work.
"If we are to eradicate child poverty, then I believe we will also need to go further in challenging existing assumptions about who - and at what point - someone should be in work.
"We also know the difference that helping lone parents into work can make. A significant proportion of our progress so far in tackling child poverty is due to helping lone parents move into work.
"Our reforms to childcare will be one crucial part of breaking down the barriers to work and helping lone parents to stay in work for longer."
'Choice'
He says that in countries with highly regarded welfare systems such as Sweden and Denmark, up to 80% of lone parents are in work. In Britain, just 56.5% of lone parents are in work.
But any measure affecting lone parents could prove controversial among Labour MPs.
One of the biggest revolts early on in Labour's rule came in 1997 when 47 MPs voted against cuts in lone parent benefit.
Chris Pond, chief executive of the charity One Parent Families, said: "I think we need to give parents encouragement and support to take well-paid jobs if they are able to do that but to give them the choice."
'Inappropriate'
He said 66% of lone parents with a youngest child aged between 11 and 16 were already in work and the government's target was 70%, "so this isn't going to take you very far".
A quarter of the parents that would be affected were caring for a disabled child, Mr Pond added.
"So in those circumstances it may be inappropriate to force the lone parent to take a job which means they're not able to fulfil the caring role.
"And we may all pay a heavy price if parents of teenagers who are going through a difficult time, just going into the secondary school phase and into exams, are not given the support they need in lone parent families," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
Are you a lone parent? Are you worried your benefits could be cut? Send us your comments and experiences using the form below.
