Gingerbread calls on government to drop child maintenance fees
Janaki Mahadevan
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Single-parent charity Gingerbread has renewed calls for government to reverse plans to introduce child maintenance fees after figures revealed more than 1.1bn was collected by the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) last year.
The latest statistics also reveal that in 2010 more than £3.7bn was owed by parents in uncollected arrears while more than £1.1m single parents were dependent on child support services.
The figures have prompted campaigners to urge government to reconsider plans to charge parents for using public child maintenance services.
Fiona Weir, Gingerbread’s chief executive, said: "The government wants parents to make their own child maintenance arrangements but for many families that just isn’t possible. Informal agreements can be scuppered by conflict, lack of trust or a non-resident parent’s reluctance to pay.
"While Gingerbread is in favour of providing greater support to separating parents to help them cooperate over arrangements, imposing charges on those who can’t will only end up hurting children."
The government is proposing that single parents who want to use state maintenance services from 2012 pay £100 application fee and an extra ongoing charge of seven to 10 per cent of the payments they receive.
Gingerbread said it has also received calls from single parents who fear they will struggle to get their partners to pay without state support.
One parent said: "I am on a low income and having money taken away from the maintenance would be a harsh blow, let alone having to pay a fee for the service. Having the maintenance means I can buy my son what he needs."
