Child Maintenance Service Charges

EDM number 818 in 2014-15, proposed by Mary Glindon on 25/02/2015.
Categorised under the topics of Child support and Children and families.

That this House is deeply concerned by the introduction of charging for use of the new Child Maintenance Service and that a lack of resources means that £2.9 billion of the £3.9 billion arrears owed to single parent families is not being collected; deplores the fact that money once intended for the upbringing of children is now being taken solely for Government coffers and that receiving families will lose out by over £70 a year which could pay for anything from winter coats to school trips or to put food on the table; refutes the idea that charges act as an incentive for parents to make private arrangements; questions how charging passes the Government's flagship family test, which includes an assessment of what impact a policy has on families most at risk of deteriorating relationships and breakdown; is mindful that a statutory child maintenance system was set up 21 years ago to address the suffering caused by child poverty and the financial costs that were otherwise being met by the state; and urges the Government to end charging for use of the child maintenance system and ensure adequate resources to collect arrears.

This motion has been signed by a total of 38 MPs.