Why is there no political impetus to enforce child maintenance?

[the2andahalfmillion]

I have never understood how non-resident parents in the UK are so easily able to evade financial responsibility for their children. There are a wide range of potential sanctions but they are almost never used and anyone who is self-employed and with half a brain seems totally safe from the reaches of the CMS.

This isn't a post about my individual situation, and I am far 'luckier' than most. Mostly I want to know why no-one seems to care about this and what we can do to make them care, and change or at the very least, implement, the law.

I want to know if there are countries where the financial burden of raising kids in separated families is truly equally shared between resident and non-resident parents? Why can't we do what they do?

And why does no political party in the UK ever bother to touch this subject? It's potentially a major vote winner even among those who aren't in single mum parent households.

@Pigeotto oh dear, you really don’t have a clue do you.

£50 a week? How can you justify this?

In what world does a child only cost £400 a month, food, clothes, shoes, toys, a bedroom, heating, electricty, water, car seats. If a resident parent refused to fund more than £200 a month towards their child they’d end up being done for neglect.

Well, I suppose if you were to put more of a legal impetus on non resident parents contributing equally to child, then you would need to do the same to resident parents.

I imagine if the birth rate keeps declining the government will have to do more to make people have more faith that producing and raising children is worthwhile and not going to ruin their own lives/plunge them into poverty etc etc.

Unfortunately the laws are made by men for men, so they'll probably just blame women for the declining birth rate and try and sabotage our rights/freedom's even more (removing the right to abortion etc).

The question was 'why is there no political impetus to fix this?' Why, when until very recently the government was run by a man who refuses to even acknowledge publicly how many children he has? Why, when the government is still majority male? Why, when affairs and 'daliances' are rife among male mps? Why on earth would they change the law to hold men to account, when they themselves are likely to be held to account by it?

They don’t do this as NRP can and do stop paying. It’s tol
unreliable.

I second this.

Here in the US there is a federal law that their wages can be garnished to pay child support. Both child support currently due and back pay. The law also allows for tax refund $ to be diverted if child support is owed, and that covers self-employed business owners.

The U.K. should do something similar if they haven’t?

For employees, maybe child maintenance should be deducted at source, a bit like student loans repayments. For those who are self employed, I don't know...a required payment when they do their tax return? The the state could pay the maintenance to the parents as a type of benefit, and the cost could be recovered from the NRP via the tax system.

Shame on @Pigeotto for suggesting that the paltry amount she pays is too much. Why should the taxpayer have to fork out for your child? If money is tight, you need to cut back on other expenses.

I know it’s their child but I feel like that’s not the point of this post

^

So what's the point? Paying less for YOUR child??

🥴

There are various laws and regulations here too but the big problem is enforcing them.

There is no political impetus to enforce a lot of our laws, e.g. water pollution and tax evasion, but people have been to prison for not having a TV licence.

I think the opposite.

I think it should be paid similarly to student loan. The resident parent (when I rule the world) will get a payment every month until the child leaves full time education. There will be a minimum amount, no one will be able to reduce this even if they are not working.

There will be tax breaks for NRPs who pay more than this minimum.

The amount can be paid by NRP or by government but the RP will know what they are getting each month.

If the NRP isn't paying then the debt will be added up in a similar way to student loans and interest added. This debt would not be cancelled at any time and will be taken directly from earnings / pension and from a person's estate at death.

I have not worked out all the details yet for things like a second marriage or NRP who has no assets.

Because it rarely impacts on middle class white men which is who our society is designed to benefit.

See also maternity pay and disability payments

@Breezewitheeze This is a flawed logic, the RP provides far more than just financial support. This is stating the obvious of course.

Those saying it should be like a student loan deduction, I agree but even when there is this set up it isn’t adequately enforced by the CMS. Missed payments just get added on to arrears and that may or may not ever get paid.

Financial abuse is just another check box for silly weak fathers who like to abuse vulnerable mothers, so whilst yes there are serious implications all one can do is just accept that’s he’s a dud and find some others way to get on with raising the children.

The UK has so many societal issues and in my humble opinion it starts with how children and women are viewed (and the elderly) - it’s all quite pathetic really.

I think in an ideal world it would work like the poster mentioned about personal circumstances. His dad earns 3x (at least) what I do and he only has him Mon Evening to Friday morning with the full education time included. I do the weekends with clubs and outings and buy double of everything for him here etc.

Taking circumstances into account a bit more, might help but that would take such a massive investment of resources. Its just mad how it would be cheaper for me to never see him and pay the £200 which just makes zero sense

So you think £200 a month is a fair and just contribution to bringing up your son?

im going to do a FOI to the CMS and ask how many times the driving licence / passport sanction has been applied per year for the last 10 years

It should be taken directly from the non resident parent’s wages before they receive them.

Then why don't you ask for 50/50 care and pay him nothing?

It should be viewed as any other type of debt. Non payment should affect the non resident parents' credit rating and have actual financial consequences.

I have not worked out all the details yet for things like a second marriage or NRP who has no assets
@sashh your ideas might work .... were it not for these two enormous spanners in the works!
Because this for the most part is where it all falls down. The most common tactics deployed by the NRP are to make it look as if they have no assets and/ or start a second family which then has first claim on any assets they do have.
The real problem is surely how to deal with this?

There is no government pressure on this because it effects a small minority of people the Tories think are irrelevant (or worse) single mums. Whereas the lanyards the Civil Service wear are somehow an important issue.

Have Labour said they would change anything?