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Child Support Agency arrangements hit ‘record high’

The number of parents paying for their children through the Child Support Agency (CSA) has hit a record high, the government has claimed.

Four in five parents involved with the CSA now pay for their children voluntarily, according to statistics from the Department  for Work and Pensions (DWP). Meanwhile, the number of unwilling parents who have had child support deducted directly from their earnings has fallen by 20 per cent over the last five years.

Work and Pensions Minister Steve Webb said:

“We now live in a society where paying for your children after a break-up is the norm ….Britain is moving from relying on a divisive and unpopular state child maintenance service to parents working together for the sake of their children.”

The minister also announced a reduction in the charge levied on parents who use the new Child Maintenance Service to pursue their former partners for support – from 7 to 4 per cent. The charge levied on the paying parent will remain 20 per cent.

He said:

“Having a charge for using the CMS will provide a nudge to parents to try to sort things out for themselves if they can.”

The blog team at Stowe is a group of writers based across our family law offices who share their advice on the wellbeing and emotional aspects of divorce or separation from personal experience. As well as pieces from our family law solicitors, guest contributors also regularly contribute to share their knowledge.

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Comments(5)

  1. JamesB says:

    Four in four parents? Surely you mean three in four? Typo?

    charge for pwc from 7 to 4 per cent. The charge levied on the paying parent will remain 20 per cent.

    Completely unfair to nrps of course that. Again goes to show that nrps have no voice in parliament or legislation here and is practically written by gingerbread and the feminists and continues to undermine marriage and relationships as a result. Not good at all this approach, boooooo.

  2. JamesB says:

    P.S. What is the building in the photo please Marilyn? CSA HQ in Belfast? Doesn’t ring any bells in my mind.

  3. JamesB says:

    Sorry, just seen it. ‘Photo of DWP building in Leeds by Chemical Engineer via Wikipedia’.

  4. John says:

    Where I agree that mediation should lead to a parental agreement for maintenance payments, there needs to be more emphasis and policy, on the ‘taboo’ subject of contact issues.

    I will also point out, that I was not an unwilling payer and have had a disgraceful service from the CSA, whereby they ‘made a mistake’ with my case, that dumped £6,400 worth of debt on to me. Instead of negotiating the debt problem caused by the CSA, they automatically, put a DEO on my income.

    What the CSA say, and portray to be, is misleading, and they still continue in their attempts to demonise and criminalise non resident parents, in what are private family matters, that are none of civil servants or politicians business!

  5. JamesB says:

    This doesn’t correlate with the Gingerbread people, who say that most single parents dont get any money from other parent. Then CSA say 80% of NRPs pay. Never trust statistics.

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