Wellington, May 26 NZPA - For sole parent Kerry Tankard balancing part-time work, child-care, and her own education was so stressful, it made her sick.

Ms Tankard gave on oral submission at Parliament's social services select committee today on the Social Assistance (Future Focus) Bill, which would see sole parents, whose oldest child is six, and sickness beneficiaries be work-tested and required to look for part-time work.

There would also be stricter eligibility criteria for the invalids benefit, changes to childcare assistance thresholds for high income earners and sanctions for those who did not comply with the requirements.

Ms Tankard, who has been a beneficiary and is also a Green Party member, said the experience of juggling part-time work, parenting and trying to get back on her feet made her "really sick."

After her divorce, she worked out the costs of going back to work, such as transportation and child-care, and found the margins were close, she said.

"For some women those costs can be absorbed into the household budgets because their husbands' incomes are high enough."

"But for me, I was completing a degree; I was trying to get a part-time job," she said.

"To get back on the treadmill, I had to take a job at the bottom. And for a lot of women, sometimes you can't make the numbers work."

The Child Poverty Action Group said the Government had shown a "relentless focus" on getting beneficiaries into work with no consideration of children.

Donna Wynd, of the group, said the bill "cuts off" education as an option for single parents.

It was relatively easy to get beneficiaries into work but they would not necessarily keep jobs because of problems with childcare, transport and health, she said.

Beneficiaries needed to move into stable, well paid work but usually ended up in low paid, casual, temporary work which was not a pathway out of poverty.

Evidence suggested people were not able to use such work as a stepping stone, she said.

Ms Wynd, also a Green Party member, said long-term beneficiaries were a "unique animal".

"For someone that's been on a benefit for 10 years it might just be cheaper to leave them there," she said.

Other submitters had similar concerns.

Alan Johnson, of the Salvation Army's social policy and parliamentary unit, said the bill was pushing people into jobs that did not exist and needed greater flexibility.

Work should be the expectation of everyone who is capable of working but not everyone was, he said.

There were parents on the "fringe of benefits" who were working really hard, often to the detriment of their children.

Mr Johnson said the bill was like mob rule -- "as long as most people think it is OK, it is worth doing".

Leonie Morris, from the Auckland Women's Centre, said there were "serious structural barriers" preventing women on the domestic purposes benefit having work.

They included the unemployment rate, low qualifications, finding childcare, finding flexible work, the lasting effects of domestic violence and issues with transport.

Many of the women wanted to work but could not and the bill penalised them, Ms Morris said.

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