28 July 2006
Lone parents on income support should be able to keep all the child maintenance they receive under the government's reformed child support system, a former welfare minister has argued.
Chris Pond, now the chief executive of pressure group One Parent Families, this week backed government plans to allow parents with care responsibilities to receive more child maintenance, by increasing the extent to which it is disregarded when receiving income-related benefits.
That proposal is a key recommendation from former Liverpool City Council chief executive Sir David Henshaw's review of the child support system.
Henshaw's proposals, published on July 24, would effectively scrap the dysfunctional Child Support Agency and replace it with a more powerful, streamlined body.
Currently, 'parents with care' can keep just £10 of maintenance before what they receive is weighted against benefits, claimed by around 70% of parents using the CSA.
Pond said: 'Lone parents on income support should be able to keep all of any child maintenance. Most urgent is the plight of some 46,000 lone parents on income support who are stuck on the “old” pre-1993 CSA scheme. They are being paid maintenance, but gain nothing from it because it is deducted pound-for-pound from their benefit.'
Janet Allbeson, an OPF policy consultant, told Public Finance that up to 90,000 children would be lifted out of poverty if all maintenance from non-resident parents was passed on.
Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton is keen on the anti-poverty proposals contained in Henshaw's review. But the Department for Work and Pensions reiterated that Henshaw has merely recommended 'significantly increasing' the disregard.
Hutton will assess the cost of the proposals this summer and the final decision will be revealed in a child support white paper later this year.
Henshaw also urged greater personal responsibility for maintenance. But he called for a more effective replacement for the CSA to pursue maintenance from absent parents who refuse to pay.
Tougher enforcement proposals include the suspension of passports, financial penalties, possible curfews and plans to 'name and shame' absent fathers.
However, under Henshaw's plan, all parents in receipt of CSA payments would be forced to re-apply to the agency's successor.
PFjul2006
