Single-parent charity Gingerbread has called on English councils to keep child maintenance out of council tax support calculations, claiming that low-income families will be significantly worse off if this is not done.
According to the charity, there are four main reasons why child maintenance should be left out of council tax support calculations. It argues that including maintenance will:
- Increase the risk of child poverty among single parents – whose children are already twice as likely to live in poverty.
- Risk fewer single parents seeking child maintenance payments – particularly where the payments they do get vary or often go unpaid – putting them at greater risk of financial hardship.
- Offer little savings to councils, due to the modest amounts of maintenance involved and higher administrative costs, as child maintenance payments can fluctuate in frequency and amount.
- Mean a double penalty on child maintenance for single parents, as from 2014 the government plans to start charging single parents who need help from the government’s new collection service.
Gingerbread chief executive Fiona Weir said: “More than 300 councils, all of whom are facing tough financial decisions, have recognised the importance of child maintenance for single parent families by keeping it out of council tax calculations.
“Children from single parent families are already twice as likely to be poor as children from couple families and it’s vital that those who do get child maintenance feel the full benefit of that support. The savings to the councils from counting child maintenance will be very small, but will be a huge blow for struggling single parent families where every penny counts in providing for their children.
“We know that councils are reviewing their schemes for next year, and would urge the councils concerned take this chance to change their policies.”
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