Struggling single parents are being “punished” and set up to fail by “unrealistic” government policies that force them into near-full-time work by the time their children are three, parents and new research suggest.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has forced parents on welfare to work 30 hours a week or have their benefits docked. A year later, an overwhelming majority of parents say they can’t make the new system work.

A Save the Children survey of 638 single parents found that 81 per cent said increasing their working hours to near full-time would be unmanageable and would have a negative impact on them and their children.

“Parents who want to work are doomed to fail,” said Becca Lyon, UK child poverty lead at Save the Children. policy impact research. It highlights barriers to work faced by parents, including lack of childcare, flexible working and single-parent employment discrimination.

“It is clear that parents are unable to meet the new conditional requirements, which are unrealistic and inconsistent with the realities of everyday life – and the entire policy needs to be urgently reconsidered.”

Alice*, who lives in Hampshire, works 16-hour shifts as an unqualified gymnastics teacher to look after her three-year-old. Her employer was unable to give her more hours, and she was unable to seek hours elsewhere due to her lack of qualifications.

She said she faced pressure to attend more meetings and work more hours – sometimes being told she had to attend when she was supposed to be at work. “It’s very stressful. I’ve been constantly feeling devastated by this situation over the past few months, and it’s really hard to pick myself up and look for work when I’m feeling that way,” she said.

“I’m ready to work as hard as I can, I want to give my children a better life, but I can’t do that now because of my situation. I’ll be able to by September, but they won’t wait. “

Under the new policy, parents will have to see a job coach every three months (up from every six months) once their child turns one. Parents of two-year-olds must attend monthly counseling sessions. But research by Save the Children found that three quarters of respondents didn’t think job coaching sessions were useful.

“The job coaching changes every session,” says Alice, who is trying to save £400 to get a coaching qualification but feels unsupported. “They’re not working to get training or help, they just want you to work 30 hours and they don’t care what you do. There’s no empathy and it feels like we’re being punished.”

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Ruth Talbot, founder of single parents rights group, said the policy discriminated against single parents. “Our social security system should be based on real support for individuals and their circumstances, rather than punishing parents who find themselves in trouble,” she added.

*Name has been changed