Future policy options for child support: The views of parents
Research Report No. 380
by Adele Atkinson, Stephen McKay and Nicola Dominy
This research report summarises and discusses the views of parents on the possible ways in which child support policy could be changed and the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches. The study was conducted through focus groups that comprised parents with care, non-resident parents and parents from intact families.
The parents were presented with a range of different types of policies, some of which had already been adopted in other countries. These included: the idea of a state guaranteed maintenance scheme; a universal system that all parents would be obliged to use; a complete disregard of the maintenance payments benefit claimants receive, thereby allowing them to keep child support as additional income to their benefits; a 'responsible-parents' model where parents would come to agreements amongst themselves with Government 'back-up' for those who cannot agree; and a return to a court-based system of determining child maintenance.
In general, parents were in favour of a 'responsible-parents' model where parents would reach their own agreements on child support. They were also in favour of disregarding the child support received by benefit claimants and keen that more vigorous enforcement methods should be used by Government to chase non-payers.
July 2006
ISBN 1 84712 085 7
