By Richard Gregorian on Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Category: Children & Child Custody

Fathers should be made to meet child maintenance responsibilities

A new report by think tank Policy Exchange has claimed that non-resident fathers on benefits should be made to work if they refuse to take financial responsibility for their children.

The report estimates that there are up to 65,800 absent fathers who have been out of work for six months or longer. Because these men pay very little, the Child Support Agency (CSA), the body which is tasked with collecting these payments, has tended to put more emphasis on collecting child support from fathers who are working. This means that responsible fathers have ended up paying for their own children, and contributing through their taxes to the child support costs of other, less responsible fathers.

The report says that it is time the government forced these men to take responsibility for their actions. It makes a number of recommendations:

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