Welfare reforms to be unveiled on Monday will include an element of compulsion to get the long-term jobless and lone parents into work, Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton has confirmed.
The proposals are expected to include a new requirement for single parents to seek work once their youngest child reaches 11, rather than the current age of 16.
And Mr Hutton confirmed that they would see a greater role for private companies and charities in helping the most difficult-to-place jobless people find employment.
The changes could see the long-term unemployed offered help buying suits or getting haircuts for job interviews, and may even include measures to help them get problems with debt under control.
Mr Hutton insisted that the Government was not planning to cut anyone's benefits. But he made clear that the package of help and support for jobseekers recommended in a review by banker David Freud will be matched by new requirements to take advantage of job opportunities.
The Freud Report will be launched on Monday by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, in a clear signal that the Government regards the benefit reforms as a central part of its programme for the years after the Prime Minister leaves office this summer.
Mr Hutton told BBC One's Sunday AM: "The status quo, I think, is not defensible. We should be prepared to have an open mind about reform, but it will not be based on the principle that the first thing you do is cut people's benefits. You should never do that - that's the last resort.
"What we should do is provide active help and support to get those people back to the labour market. If you do it that way, with the right sort of values, you can win this debate - and we have got to win this debate because it is very important for the country."
Mr Hutton, who was himself brought up in a single-parent family reliant on benefits, insisted: "I don't want to cut people's benefits. We are not reducing anyone's benefits."
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But asked whether there would be new measures of compulsion to seek work in the reform package, he replied: "There has to be some ... In the context of lone parents, I think we should be prepared to say if we are going to provide more help and support to get back to work, then we will expect you to take up that help and support."
