working tax credits/child benifit etc

[fairness4all]

hi , does any one think it would be a good idea for benifits to be shared proportionately between both parents following divorce or seperation rather than just being claimed by one parent only . ie if you are looking after children 4 nights a week you would be entitled to 4/7ths of a claim while the other parent if they looked after the children for 3 nights a week would be able to claim 3/7ths .

or

is it fair where a parent has the children 24/7 for all 52 weeks they only receive the same in benifits for their children when another parent in identical situation who only has the children for half of each week would have twice the amount of cash to spend as they dont have to provide for the children when they are with the other parent .

ANY IDEAS ??????????

You can already do this if you have 2 dc. You claim for one each. Assuming both parents are happy to do that.

Doesn't help if you have just 1dc though.

In reality a lot of lone parents end up parenting alone with either a no show NRP or a 'fun' NRP who turns up for fun weekends. They are also much more limited in terms of career/work and childcare.
Yes there are some who genuinely do share care (including appointments, parents evening, sick days and the rest), but I don't know very many and you have to genuinely be prepared to work together.

As I recall the shocking reality (for whatever reasons) is that half of dad's will lose touch with their dc within 2 years of divorce/separation.

thanks for replying - the way i see things is that a lot of nrp loose contact like you say within 2 years on the basis that they simply cannot afford to maintain contact - when the resident parent has direct access to subsidised housing and all the rest of the benifits - working tax credits - child benifit - winter fuel payments etc it can add up to over 12k a year in cash benifits - a person would have to earn around 16k to take that home and would also have to bear the travel to and from work expenses. the resident parent gets to keep this on top of wages they earn and also keep csa payments . a total cash income of around 2200 per month - the nrp would need to earn aprox 36k a year to compete with that - and if the nrp has the children 3 nights a week and half of all hols they would be really disadvantaged

do you think benifits should be share on a pro rata basis ie only be paid for the actual percentage of the time you have the children

where all of these NRP's that have their children 3 nights a week, half the holidays and spend equal amount of time and do their fair share of parents evenings, doctors trips, looking after sick children etc??

If a RP is working they don't get to keep all of their benefits

The NRP ALWAYS has the option to work an extra job to earn more money - so childcare worries at all. Taking on an extra job to boost income for the RP is much much more difficult

you would also have the absurd situation of a NRP who lives over half the year on their own being entitled to housing benefit for the same size house as the RP.

My ex husband has just started taking our kids two nights a week. He told me today he will be claiming CTC and child benefit for those two days??? Can he do that? I dont work right now as i am studying and our eldest son has a psychological disorder, so i had to stop work as no childminder would look after him. Im soooo worried my money will be halved. I struggle as it is. Can anyone help?

NO he can't. If he tries they may stop yours for a while, but they will pay it to teh resident parent (and if there is doubt or residency is shared) they take that to mean the parent who get sthe child benefit.

If he applies for child benefit then again yours would stop while they check, but if he only has them 2 overnights a week and you have them the other 5 he won't get it.

there are plenty of nrps who have their children 3 nights plus a week . i have done for the last 4 years .

if you have shared care i think the benifits should be pro rata

if you worked at tesco and got paid hourly if they paid someone who works 40 hours at £6 per hour £240 and someone who does the same job at the same rate of pay for 20 hours then the people who worked full time would no longer want to work

resident parents are getting a full time pay but only doing part of the work where the nrp has the children 1 2 or 3 nights a week . benifits should be shared pro rata

what about resident parents who s partner has died they have no option but to have the children 7 nights a week 52 weeks a year - should they not get more because they have no possible means of financial or other support from a deceased partner

fairness go bang your drum somewhere else. OP is asking for facts, not how you would like things to be. Pester your MP if you want things to change. But that is not how things work for now.