FAMILY

POLICY PLEDGES:

• The tax and benefit system will offer greater protection and support for family life. Couples raising children together (comprising a basic rate tax payer and a non tax payer) will benefit from full sharing of tax allowances.
• The fundamental aim of national housing policy shall be to ensure that young people seeking to start a family and have children will be able to find a suitable, affordable home in which to do so.
• Married families will be given preference in council house and social housing allocation, which will be increased. Safe, staffed accommodation will be provided by the state for vulnerable young unpartnered parents, including education, training support and parenting skills. Absent parents will pay child maintenance in all cases. 
• All parents of dependent children under school age may elect to work from home three days a week for at least two years, unless the nature of their work makes this impracticable.
• When making staff redundancies, employers will be expected to take into account family circumstances, and parents supporting children under 16 will be accorded the same protection as groups presently protected under anti-discrimination legislation.
• Parenting and household management skills will be made the centrepiece of the PHSE curriculum in all schools.
• Government policy in all domains will be subject to the basic test as to whether it is supportive of the family as the fundamental foundation of society.
• Government funding for women and men's refuges shall be increased and a national helpline will be established to help tackle all forms of domestic abuse.