SIR – The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has just revealed data that shows that about 8.1 million parents and children are living off incomes that cannot adequately cover minimum household budgets.

This is an increase of more than a third on the 2008/9 figure of 5.9 million.

The Conservative solution is to aim to get everyone of working age into some sort of employment, regardless of pay and conditions.

Yet for many work simply does not pay enough to live on.

Many are on temporary or zero-hours contracts, barely receiving the minimum wage and have little or no security in the workplace.

It is not so much the number of jobs, which the government tends to emphasise, that is important.

It is the type of job and how much is being paid, which are the key elements in lifting people out of poverty.

What is needed is for more employers to sign up to the ‘living wage’, which some are doing.

The Foundation report reveals single-parent households are bearing the brunt of the recession.

In addition, researchers at Loughborough University calculated that “71% of lone parents – 2.3 million individuals – are living off inadequate incomes.”

David Hornsby, West View Avenue, Wrose