Frank Field: stop stigmatising single mothers; take away benefits from bad fathers instead

My only concern about this is that we could potentially see a situation where single parents are left high and dry. I'm all for tracking down absent parents and making them pay, but this will only work if the resident parent can rely on maintenance being paid in full and on time, and there will also need to be a benefit back-up that can step in quickly to compensate if maintenance is missed. Otherwise, government will simply use this initiative to pay out less benefits and it will, yet again, be children who suffer. I also worry that Frank Field will use this to 'encourage' a return to the traditional gender roles (all well and good if that's what you want, but I DON'T want to be a SAHM - I'd rather my XP paid maintenance to ease the financial burden placed on me by fulltime childcare).

Sounds like a good idea in principle but hasn't the problem always been tracking down the dead-beat dads? Whether it's for CSA payments or chivvying them back to employment. Mind you, I also know one woman who refused to have either of her children's fathers listed on the birth certificates because she didn't want them to have any say in the children's lives. Didn't want any money from them, she said, because it would eat into her benefits.

I wonder if it would be possible for CSA payments to come off wages/tax declaration for self employed and go to resident parents?
But to be tax deductible like pension contributions etc?

Rewards NRPs who choose to contribute as much as they can afford to instead of the least they have to, while ensuring every NRP who works at all is paying at least the minimum. Normalising the idea that paying for your children who don't live with you is as important as paying tax/NIC/pension contributions.

Everyone backing Field here, go and comment on the Guardian story linked above. There is tons of negative comment so far, plus some denials that there is hostility towards single mothers! (would be if it weren't so )

That's great that this is finally being said. It's disgusting that mothers are always in the firing line.

He is focussing on benefits here but I wonder if there is a way of using the tax system to penalise non contributing fathers so it becomes worth their while to make their CSA payments (don't know how - maybe an additional tax per non resident child that can be reduced by the percentage of csa payments made in that tax year). And not to be sexist thisshort would be levied on any non res parent maybe.

Problem is it is such a logistical nightmare but something needs to be done.

Go Frank! About time this point of view got a serious hearing. I hope the government will actually take some notice.

About time someone focused on the dads...

It won't last though, they'll poo poo it.

The CSA was set up to ensure that men paid maintenance.

3/5 of them still don't bother and the ones who do are in general paying a pittance.

So I doubt if there'll be any long term effects of htis.

Fabulous. Love it.