Gender question re child maintenance and it's implications for women.

[CreviceImp]

Can anyone give me steer and let me know how to access information on what percentage of women' and their children have cases where they are owed child maintenance? When I last spoke to someone at the then CSA I was told 95% of claimants were mothers but I want a more accurate figure.

Also can I ask when this is such a widespread issue having far reaching consequences for women in terms of their poverty of opportunitiy why it is not being treated as an outrageous social injustice? Where are the campaigns?

No one in any position of power gives a shit.

Too busy telling the world that single mothers are the cause of all the world's ills. At least the ills not caused by immigrants anyway.

You could maybe talk to Gingerbread?

Thank-you, Gingerbread is an excellent suggestion.

I have just joined the Women's Equality Party. Any other members here?.

Can any of you lend your support for my petition. I plan to meet with my MP in May as I have various questions that need answering. If anyone has any questions they would like me to put forward please let me know.

Dear Kerry Ann Howard,

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I’ve made a petition – will you sign it?

Click this link to sign the petition:
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My petition:

Charge non-resident parents who evade child support payments with child neglect.

Current legislation does not recognise non-payment of child support as neglect. After a year of non-compliance separate criminal charges should be brought against such non-resident parents for child neglect. Resident parents should also be able to prosecute non-compliant NRP for financial abuse.

Figures from 2011 indicate that 95.2% of parents who approached the Child Support Agency in order to access their legal entitlement for child maintenance were female. The failure to collect rates are astonishing. It is therefore a gender inequality issue. This social injustice needs to be urgently addressed.The far reaching repercussions have to be legally recognised for both the parent with care and the child/ren when one parent fails to support their child/ren. It is neglect and abuse.

Click this link to sign the petition:
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/126895/sponsors/r7SMKHriuAeTVvQ0al

Excellent advice. Thank-you. The petition unfortunately has a limited word count - very frustrating.There is so much more to add -it was incredibly difficult condensing to the extent I had to.

Will do some research.... It will hold me in good stead.

This should not be treated as a gender issue.
My brothers ex wife still owes him money for child support from over two years ago.
Lets bring equality into this issue and not treat it as another feminist demand, think CHILDREN.

Lets bring equality into this issue and not treat it as another feminist demand, think CHILDREN.

Let's not invisible sexism.
Do you really think that if most resident parents were male, it would still be as easy to get out of paying child support?

Discriminating against people who raise children is an easy way to discriminate against women and disguise the sexism. It is inevitable that some men will be harmed by this, too, but they are not the main target.

Vicky1990
Is that the exSIL who won't let him see the children? Why does she owe him child support? Presumably she has residency.
What do you mean by child support?

I've signed your petition, OP, but I think you've revealed your full real name in your post.

Of course non-payment of maintenance is a feminist issue when 95% of people who don't receive it are women.

I don't really see why it's such a bad thing to agitate for change as a feminist issue anyway - if it ends up also helping the 5% who are men I doubt they'll be complaining that the issue was solved for the wrong reasons.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/220457/eia-child-support-fees.pdf

Page 5 gender breakdown table of those using the service.

Anecdotal evidence v government figures.

Draw your own conclusions.

Sorry page 8. Figures from March 2012. Last ones available I could find released.

Someone who made a more recent application on FOI grounds was told it was too costly to calculate.

redannie118 You dispute the 95% who claim as being women by stating that some claims are against women but on the whole the examples you give ie granny, same sex relationship it is still a woman who is making the claim.

I'm not sure child neglect is the tactic to take, as most children in these situations are not neglected, as the RP picks up the slack. Same as if I left my children with a babysitter, but didn't pay her - not child neglect, but breach of a contract with the sitter. I think a more practical approach would be for child maintenance to be payable by the state at the basic level and the NRP gets a bill from the state for this. Then unpaid maintenance from the NRP to the state would be treated as a criminal offence and sanctions could be applied the same as for unpaid council tax or income tax. Non payment of these taxes can currently result in a prison sentence.

Children in these cases are being neglected by their (mainly) fathers who are refusing to contribute to their wellbeing/needs.

Children are the responsibility of both parents whether they live with them or not. They both have a legal and moral duty to take care of them. The fact that a resident parent is picking up the slack in most cases doesn't detract from the fact that a non-contributory parent is neglecting their child/ren.

Those that do contribute the average £35 a week which equates to just over £30,000 over the course of a child's life are still far from meeting it on an equal basis. It costs, on average £230,000 to raise a child. So not only are resident parents meeting the majority of the care needs of their child they are also meeting the financial shortfall in circumstances often where their earning power is restricted due to their childcare obligations.

This IS about financial abuse and child neglect.

I agree that money should be paid first to resident parents and collected later from NRPs. It would resolve a lot of the issues but I don't see that happening re the deficit.

I know when Norway employed this method they had a 90 collection rate but then Scandinavian countries tend to tolerate far less inequality.