25 Nov Unpaid Child Maintenance Key Driver of Child Poverty
Gingerbread, the single parenting charity, supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, is today releasing a report and new research that reveals the impact of the failing Child Maintenance Service (CMS) on single parent families. The report demonstrates the link between unpaid child maintenance and the shameful, growing level of child poverty in the UK.
According to official figures a record high of 30% of UK children live in poverty[1] with children in single parent households almost twice as likely as those in couple parent households to be in poverty[2] (44% compared to 26%). Evidence shows that where it’s received, child maintenance cuts the child poverty rate by 25%[3].
The report reveals the majority of single parents whose children are not getting the maintenance they are entitled to are struggling to make ends meet:
· 51% are struggling to pay for food or going without meals
· 52% are struggling to pay essential bills
· 57% are living with debt due to overdrafts, credit cards, catalogues, or loans they have run up
While 49% of separated parents said not receiving child maintenance has meant that they have been unable to afford clothes, shoes, or school uniform for their children.
Sarah Lambert, Head of Policy at Gingerbread, the charity which supports single parent families said:
“Our government has made a clear commitment to tackle child poverty but unless it pays due attention to the role of the Child Maintenance Service it will fail to do so. There is clear evidence that when child maintenance is paid it protects children from poverty. It’s shameful that the government service which exists to ensure children are financially supported by both parents is letting them down so badly.
“We have been told time and again that this Government is having to make difficult decisions to protect our economy. This will be all too familiar to so many single parents who are forced to make impossible decisions every day, just so they can afford basic living costs. Our research shows that too many separated parents are going without food and heating and still being pushed into debt because a single household income simply doesn’t stretch far enough.
“If this government is genuinely committed to tackling child poverty, then we need to see the CMS reformed so that it works for the parents who use it and the children it is designed to support.”
Abby Jitendra, Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Principal Policy Adviser for Care, Family and Relationships, said:
“Single parent families are disproportionately at risk of poverty. Our own research finds more than four in ten children in lone-parent families are in poverty, so they need to be a key priority in the Government’s child poverty strategy.
“It’s frustrating that Child Maintenance Service isn’t fulfilling its most basic purpose – helping children get the support they’re entitled to. We need to crack down on parents who refuse to pay and give families proper support to navigate a difficult time.
“In light of these failings, the Government needs to go bold and see reforms to Child Maintenance as another tool in its fight against child poverty. It must ensure children get a fair deal.”
Today’s report clearly shows that the CMS’s failings are not only an important driver of child poverty, but also parental conflict which leads to a significant proportion of people avoiding using the CMS. This contributes to 41% of separated families having no child maintenance arrangement[4], which in turn means more children miss out on essential financial support to which they are entitled.
The CMS already has wide ranging enforcement powers that mean it can take payments directly from salaries and bank accounts and in the most difficult cases it can remove passports, driving licences and even imprison non-paying parents, but today’s research shows that the service is slow to act and use these powers, failing children in the process. This must change.
The failings of the CMS also put single parents at risk of continued financial and domestic abuse and coercive control by ex-partners. Data released today shows that 45% of parents with care[5] who have experienced domestic abuse said that involvement of the CMS led to an increase in abusive behaviour from their ex.
In the independent review following the appalling murder of Emma Day, a woman killed by her ex-partner following her claim for child maintenance, CMS processes were highlighted as “insufficient and potentially raising a risk to victims when making a maintenance application”[6].
In addition, our survey showed that 96% of non-resident parents and 72% of parents with care said that their experience of dealing with the CMS had made their mental health and well-being worse.
Research and parliamentary investigations have consistently found that the CMS is failing separated parents and their children[7]. The service must be improvement and we urgently need to see:
· An increase in enforcement to tackle non-payment of maintenance
· A closing of loopholes that allow non-resident parents to avoid payment
· A transformation in training for CMS staff in domestic abuse and for the service to become trauma informed
· Dedicated, named caseworkers so that single parents don’t have to keep retelling their story and to ensure issues are understood and followed up on.
