Single parents who apply to the Child Maintenance Service for financial assistance will no longer have to pay the £20 fee if they can demonstrate that they witnessed the abuse of their children.
The Department for Work and Pensions has amended its rules to include seeing child abuse committed by a current or former partner – or a family member – in its definition of domestic violence. Applicants judged to be victims receive automatic exemption from the fee, which has been payable since June 2014.
The guidance lists the specific organisations that the applicant must have reported the abuse to in order to qualify for the exemption.
You can read more here.
Photo by Petras Gagilas via Flickr under a Creative Commons licence.