24 July 2006 - Parents favour taking charge of child maintenance payments
Research published today shows parental support for the idea of independently negotiating child maintenance payments.
The DWP research, Future Policy Options for Child Support: The Views of Parents, examined the views and reactions of parents on the future reform of child support policy.
When asked, parents had a strong preference against a universal system for paying maintenance and preferred the opportunity to negotiate payments between themselves. The general feeling was that parents ‘should’ and ‘could’ come to a mutual agreement without the intervention of an outside agency.
However it was felt that the Government should provide a ‘back-up’ service to parents who cannot come to an agreement and where more ‘difficult’ circumstances arise.
John Hutton, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions said:
“ This research is very enlightening as it provides a strong indication of what parents want - they want to be given the option of sorting out their own child maintenance arrangements, rather than having one system which is imposed on everyone”.
The study also showed support for parents with care being allowed to keep all the child maintenance paid by the non-resident parent, with little support being shown for a system where payments were guaranteed; even when non-resident parents proved non-compliant.
The research comes shortly before Sir David Henshaw reports back to Secretary of State on his redesign of the Child Support system. Sir David will be looking at how we can better ensure parents take financial responsibility for their children when they live apart.
Note to Editors
- Future Policy Options for Child Support: The Views of Parents is published on 24 July 2006. A copy of the report can be downloaded from the DWP website: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/
- The research was undertaken during May and June 2006 and is based upon a series of focus groups that examined the views and experiences of a mix of 31 parents with care, non-resident parents and ‘intact’ couples.
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