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."
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