The price of money for nothing

They are spiritless, depressing places where people lead aimless lives of quiet (and sometimes not so quiet) desperation. Crime, violence and drugs are commonplace.

Many of the residents of these estates are single parents who, like Matthews, qualified for a house and an income by having children. Others are unemployed or claim to be incapable of working.

As in Australia, the number of single parents claiming welfare in Britain has mushroomed over the past 40 years. Fewer than one-quarter of single parents (and less than 10per cent of those with children under five) have full-time jobs. The rest rely on government payments for all or most of their income, for without at least one full-time worker, no household can be self-reliant.

Also like Australia, there has been a steady increase in the number of Britons of working age claiming they are sick or disabled. A staggering five million working-age people in Britain live on welfare, and half of them are claiming incapacity benefit.

This week the Government published a white paper that promises a welfare revolution. Some of the proposals echo what John Howard achieved in Australia, but some go much further. Until now, single parents in Britain have been entitled to stay at home and draw welfare until their youngest child reaches school-leaving age. The same was true in Australia until Howard changed the rules in 2006. Now the British Government is following Australia's lead by requiring single parents to look for work once their child reaches seven. Those who don't find jobs will be switched to unemployment benefits.

But the white paper takes two further steps that Howard never attempted.

First, it proposes that single parents on welfare should progress to work after their youngest child's first birthday.

It is unclear what exactly progressing to work means. It could involve training or work experience programs. It could just mean tweaking their CV.

But whatever it means, those who refuse to do anything risk having their benefits docked. Only single parents with children under one will be unaffected by new requirements.

Second, the white paper also aims to reduce the growing number of disability claimants. This has been a problem for all Western countries during the past 20 years and few have made much progress with it.

But Britain will reassess all claimants with the aim of reducing their numbers by 40per cent. As with single parents, all but the most disabled claimants will be reclassified as progressing to work. This could mean having to do training or complete work placements in order to keep receiving benefits.

Will these reforms work?