The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)
Today the Government reach a key milestone in their progress towards reforming the child maintenance system in Great Britain, by first bringing into force the regulations allowing the Department for Work and Pensions to end child maintenance arrangements in the 1993 and 2003 child maintenance schemes and, secondly, introducing a range of fees for using the 2012 child maintenance scheme, managed by the Child Maintenance Service.
The Government want to help parents to reduce levels of conflict after a separation and work together more effectively. After a relationship breakdown most parents still want what is best for their children and we want to support them to achieve this. Wherever possible we want to encourage more parents to consider arranging maintenance directly between themselves, rather than viewing statutory child maintenance arrangements as the default option.
Both parents will be offered free information and support to help them make the right choices for them about their child maintenance arrangements through the Child Maintenance Options service.
For those unable to make their own arrangements, there is a new more efficient and effective child maintenance scheme, managed by the Child Maintenance Service.
The introduction of fees is designed to act as an incentive for parents to collaborate following a separation, encouraging them to think again before defaulting to the Child Maintenance Service. The fees are also about people making a small contribution to the cost of an expensive service that will continue to be heavily subsidised by the taxpayer. The Government do, however, recognise that the collection charges for paying parents should be higher as they have greater control over whether or not maintenance is paid. The charges are encouraging not just compliance but also a shift towards collaboration, which is in the best interests of the children involved.