Almost two thirds of voluntary child support arrangements are still in place a year later, the government has announced.
According to new research published by the Department for Work and Pensions, the majority of divorced and separated parents have now set up voluntary ‘direct pay’ agreements in which child maintenance is paid directly by the non-resident parent to the one with care. Of these so-called ‘family-based arrangements’, no less than 62 per cent were still in place after a year, the Department reports.
A significant majority of these arrangements – 70 per cent – were set up within three months of the parents receiving official calculations of the amount due from Child Support Agency successor, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).
Meanwhile, close to 60 per cent of parents who did not complete applications for statutory arrangements, in which the CMS collects the money from uncooperative paying parents, said they intended to set up a voluntary arrangement instead.
Tory MP Caroline Nokes is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the DWP. She said:
“We know children grow up to have better health, emotional well-being and educational attainment if their parents, whether together or separated, have a positive relationship.”
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