Single parents with children aged over seven will have to look for work from 2010 under welfare reforms announced by work and pensions secretary Peter Hain.

"Our aim is to get British benefits claimants into British jobs to become British workers," Hain said.

Lone parents who can work will be required to "actively seek" a job once their youngest child is 12 or over from October next year, 10 or over from 2009 and seven or over from 2010.

The parents will be supported by a "flexible system of pre-work preparation and in-work support", Hain said.

The Ready to Work strategy is aimed at cutting the number of people on benefits and raising the employment rate from 74.5 per cent to 80 per cent.

Other proposals in the government's response to the welfare reform green paper published earlier this year include rule changes to encourage people on jobseekers' allowance to study and take part in training.

Hain said: "We want to see an employment rate of 80 per cent, up from the current baseline of 74.5 per cent, putting full employment at the heart of our anti-poverty strategy and enabling Britain to seize the opportunity afforded by a dynamic global economy.

"In a new and radical approach, we will therefore increasingly look to move people from being spectators on the margins isolated at home - as recipients of passive benefits - to becoming participants, actively seeking and preparing for work with access to training and job-focused activity."