New survey results show that almost half of single parents currently using the Child Support Agency – as polled by charity Gingerbread - could not afford to pay the fees proposed to access the new child maintenance service.
Furthermore, of those families surveyed by Gingerbread who said they could not afford the fees, 72% said they could not set up private arrangements with their ex-partners - meaning their children would simply have to go without maintenance support.
The findings fly in the face of Government assumptions that paying fees to use the child maintenance service or coming to private arrangements are realistic options for the majority of separated parents.
Gingerbread Chief Executive Fiona Weir said:
“This shows the devastating impact that charging could have on the amount of child maintenance that will get through to children. If these findings were to be replicated across the whole CSA caseload, that could mean nearly 300,000 single parent families would go without child maintenance.
“Ever since these proposals were announced, single parents have been in touch with us in their droves to tell us the hardship they will face if they can no longer get child maintenance. We urge the Government to scrap these proposals.”
