But the move, announced by Chancellor Alistair Darling in last year's Pre-Budget Report, is also set to reduce single parents' incentives to find work.
A Department for Work and Pensions' study of the policy, released last week, investigated the possible impact of increasing the child support "disregard" in income support calculations from £10 a week to £50.
Sir David Henshaw proposed such an increase in his review of child support arrangements. Darling then announced the introduction of a £20 disregard in income support by the end of 2008, increasing to a £40 disregard from April 2010.
The Child Support and Work Incentives report found that by increasing the disregard from £20 to £50, the average amount of child support paid by non-resident parents would rise from £18.30 to £19.50. But the impact on income support payments would raise the parents' income from £9.70 to £17.10 a week.
"This substantial increase gives rise to an adverse effect on lone parents' incentives to work," the report said.
- www.cypnow.co.uk/doc.
