Charities urge Theresa May to rethink child maintenance proposals in a letter saying women will suffer most from new charges
Read the letter here
Changes to the child maintenance system will have an unfair impact on single mothers, penalising them with charges that will reduce the incomes of already vulnerable families, charities have warned in a letter to Theresa May, minister for women and equalities.
Proposed changes are designed to encourage estranged parents to come to a voluntary agreement on how much support the non-resident parent should contribute.
Those unable to come to a voluntary agreement will have to pay if they want the state to enforce a settlement and collect the money on their behalf. These charges will usually be met by the mother, according to Gingerbread, the charity that campaigns for single parents.
Calling for the government to reconsider its proposals, the letter signed by nine women's organisations and parenting charities, states: "Ninety-seven per cent of parents with care who are eligible to receive child maintenance are women. It is our view that the proposed procedural and financial hurdles to be introduced from 2012 for all applicants to the statutory maintenance system will unfairly impact on them, rather than on non-resident parents (mostly fathers) who have failed to meet their responsibilities to their children."
The letter concludes: "There is a strong risk that, as a result of the government's plans, a considerable number of women, particularly if on a low income, or where the amount of child maintenance due is modest, will simply give up on child maintenance altogether or accept inadequate and irregular sums from the other parent."
Under the proposed new system, any parent who wants official help in claiming maintenance will have to pay a £100 fee (reduced to £50 for benefits claimants), and a further 12% of any payments received if they are collected by a government service. The non-resident parent will have to pay a 20% surcharge on payments collected in this way.
"We think the government underestimates the extent to which, when parents separate, there can be difficult and painful circumstances and very different interests when it comes to working out the financial contribution of one party to the other for the maintenance of children. The charging proposals in particular undermine the negotiating position of parents with care on a low income in need of child maintenance," the letter adds.
Most campaigners agree it is preferable for families to come to their own arrangements, but stress that many parents find it difficult to resolve maintenance issues between themselves.
"Where there is a friendly relationship it is more likely that they will manage to get to a voluntary agreement, but where there is conflict – perhaps with good reason, where there has been violence – it is much less likely," said Janet Allbeson, policy adviser for Gingerbread.
"Discussions about money can take place against the context of power relations: the person who has the money can decide when and how much to pay, or if they are going to pay anything at all. It is a minority of parents that find it easy to discuss financial issues with their ex-partner. Although one can applaud the general aim of encouraging parents to sit down and talk this through, in the real world there are a lot of children being brought up where it is extremely unlikely that the non-resident parent will pay."
The proposed system would make it more likely that the parent caring for the child would settle for less in negotiations with the ex-partner rather than see the payments reduced by charges, the charities argue.
Consultation on the government's proposals ends on April 7.
The Department for Work and Pensions said that child maintenance legislation was "strictly gender-neutral", but argued that the system was in need of reform.
"The CSA currently spends around £460m each year to run the existing statutory schemes. Spending over 40p for every £1 moved does not represent value for money," a spokesperson said.
"We are reforming the child maintenance system so that parents can access support and guidance early in order to come to their own family arrangements, rather than feeling they have to go through a statutory system which entrenches conflict. When parents split up, it is vital that both continue to take responsibility for their children, and our reforms will help them to work together to do so."
Users of the current system have stressed that the charges would take a vital chunk out of their income. Meriel Brown, who is bringing up a three-year-old daughter on her own, said she would not have been able to persuade her ex-partner to make payments voluntarily.
"If I could come to an amicable arrangement with my daughter's father I would, but there has been a complete breakdown of communication," she said.
The amount she would lose under the new system, if 12% were to be cut from her payments, was about equivalent to her weekly electricity payments, she said."There is no leeway in my budget – literally every penny is worked out. I think it would be wrong to charge, because it's taking away money from children. Why should my daughter be penalised?"
Read letter in full at guardian.co.uk/society