Letter: Hitting the poor

Sir: "Encourage" lone parents back into work? Surely "coerce", "bully", or even "terrorise" are far more appropriate.

Until the Social Security system is reformed from the inside out there will be no such thing as "encouraging" people back into work. The low morale and cynicism that exists among frontline DSS staff provokes an attitude of "them" against "us" between claimants and staff, making the process of signing on feel more like a Gestapo interrogation than any act of "encouragement".

DAVID ROSE

London WC1