26 August 08 – DWP Research Report: Relationship separation and child support study (DWP Research Report 503)
The report uses data collected on the separated adults to examine the circumstances of people who have a child maintenance interest, including parents with care (PWCs), non resident parents (NRPs) and those who do and do not use the Child Support Agency. This work was commissioned by DWP to inform the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill and the future planning and organisation of C-MEC.
Key findings
- Around seven in ten NRP’s had some contact with their children and contact was likely to be more of a cause of tension for CSA parents than non CSA parents. Where parents were unhappy about contact it was more likely to be because of not enough contact.
- Around six in ten non CSA PWC’s had no maintenance arrangements in place; about three in ten had a private arrangement; and one in ten were subject to a court order or consent order.
- Most parents said they would consider using a professional organisation if they needed information or support in relation to child maintenance in the future. Key areas parents felt they may require information and support in the future were; working out how much maintenance to pay or collect; what to do if there are problems with child maintenance payments; and deciding whether or not to set up formal child maintenance arrangements.
- Whilst around half of non-CSA PWC’s and CSA NRP’s thought parents should ideally make maintenance arrangements privately between themselves, only a fifth of CSA PWC’s shared this view.
Notes to Editors
- This report is published on 26 August and will be in the DWP Research Series Report (no. 503); see: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rrs-index.asp
- The authors were from the National Centre for Social Research
- The study involved a one hour face to face interview with a total of 1956 separated parents interviewed.
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