@Port1aCastis
I moved back to my mother to escape an abusive relationship. I'm on the same planet as the rest of you.
That's what the oh so amazing credit unions do.. Child Benefit loans. Money, meant to give kids a standard of living, is taken by the credit union every month as payment for a loan taken by the parents.
Oh dear, "what about the kids" from someone who doesn't understand child benefit or the child benefit loans used by some credit unions.
Child Benefit is not ringfenced and parents can choose to waste it. The parents can spend CB on whatever they want: school uniforms, boiler repairs, a trolleyful of booze, a new TV when the old one is still fine, you name it. The parents can already choose not to spend CB on the kids.
Credit Unions are not magic money trees. If debtors default, the money they should have repaid is lost. If this happens often enough, the credit union will be forced to put interest rates up to cover losses or else become insolvent, preventing future affordable loans to those in need. Having money from a third-party (e.g. employer) bypass the debtor's bank account and be paid straight to the creditor ensures that the loan is repaid. PAYE taxation works this way: you owe the Govt a debt called "income tax" and they collect it directly from your employer without it touching your bank account. But, the CU cannot deduct the debt from the debtor's paycheck without serious adverse consequences to the debtor, because...
Getting a debt repaid from a debtor's paycheck requires a county court judgement. A CCJ is something that marks you as a "bad debtor" for a long time and is only issued to someone who has already defaulted on the loan. It cannot be set up as the payment of first resort, even at the debtor's request.
Getting a CU loan repaid through CB guarantees repayment without a CCJ. This keeps interest rates low and means that the family repay the smallest amount possible, maximising the money available to them to care for the children in the long-term.