Cash bonus for working mothers

£40-a-week bonus for mothers who return to work

Mothers who return to work after having children could be offered cash incentives under new government plans.

As part of wide-reaching proposals, unveiled by Gordon Brown yesterday in a speech to the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, the government aims to get as many parents back into the work force as possible, and open up opportunities for children in disadvantaged households.

'Social mobility starts with the parents wanting their children to do better than they did themselves,' said Brown.

'But it cannot be achieved without people themselves adopting the work ethic, the learning ethic and aiming high.

'So it also depends on Government giving people the capacity to participate fully in shaping the future.'

Included in the plan, some of which was announced during Darling's recent budget, is a headline £40-a-week bonus for mothers who return to work - a figure which has been bandied about in the newspapers this morning.

However, there's more at stake included £200 one-off payments for parents with children under the age of five who have failed to take up Sure Start schemes, such as immunisation and parenting classes. There is also a £10m programme to help working mothers in London with transport and childcare costs.

'I know that the challenge we face is great and has been with us for decades,' said Brown.

'But it is the great test of our time: to build a fairer, more prosperous and upwardly mobile Britain; to tackle injustice, to remove prejudice and discrimination wherever we find them; to raise aspirations for the future - a better Britain for our children, a better life for them than we had.

'And I believe we, as a nation, can be optimistic about the prospects ahead.'