On 5 January, single mum Cathy and Gingerbread Chief Executive Fiona Weir appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour to challenge MP Maria Miller on the effects that charging to access the CSA will have on the lives of single parent families across the UK.
Listen from 11 minutes and 45 seconds to hear the full discussion.
"Penalised for trying to do the best for your children"
Cathy described how she and her ex-partner had initially come to a private arrangement for child maintenance until he remarried and payments become more and more erratic. When he refused to discuss other options with her, Cathy contacted the CSA to make a claim – a situation she says was absolutely a “last resort.”
Cathy also spoke about the essential expenses, such as bills, her mortgage, clothing for her children and food, which she uses child maintenance to help her cover and how, without it, her children have to miss out on activities such as school trips. As well as stating that she simply would not be able to afford an upfront charge, Cathy believes that ongoing charges would also make life harder for families like hers, saying “to have to pay a percentage of what I would be getting would be ridiculous” and that “to be penalised for trying to do the best for your children, it’s going to be bad in the long run.”
"The government just doesn’t realise how hard many people’s lives are"
In response to Maria Miller’s argument that private arrangements between parents for child maintenance payment are the better and more long-lasting option for both parents and their children, Gingerbread Chief Executive Fiona Weir described the “anger and desperation” many single parents are feeling at the prospect of having their only means of gaining vital money for their children removed from under them by unfair charging they simply can’t afford:
“Why on earth should the person who’s meant to be being paid be the one who has to go through that barrier and scrape that money together in the first place, just to get the other parent who should be paying into the system?”
Upon being asked how hard it would be for single parents to pay the £100 up-front fee, Fiona told how this was the equivalent of “two weeks food and drink” for many single parent families and echoed many of our members by saying she believes “the government just doesn’t realise how hard many people’s lives are at the moment.”
A supporter makes their concerns heard
After listening to the programme, Pat Kehoe felt compelled to email Maria Miller to voice her anger at the proposed charges and their effects on single parent families. Why not contact your MP and let them know what the charges will mean for you and your children, or give your support like Pat has done?
Dear Mrs Miller,
I was appalled, listening to Woman's Hour today, when you tried to justify charging lone, struggling parents:
1. £50-£100 to register to the service that will replace the 'Child Support Agency', and with
2. An ongoing charge of between seven and 12 per cent for administration. (As an aside - do the users pay directly for the administration of other government services?)
You tried to justify this saying that a) the system was not serving the mother, Cathy, who was interviewed, yet it was the only method that ensured that she received support from the father of her sons; and b) that you wanted to ensure that mothers received help.
Cathy said that she would not have been able to afford the registration fee, and certainly that every penny she received went immediately to pay bills, so receiving a reduced payment because of administration fees would certainly not have helped her.
I certainly agree with the comment that the devisers of this system do not live in the real world. I would have hoped that the parents struggling to ensure an adequate standard of living for their children would be helped by government, not hindered with onerous payments. To me it is yet further evidence of a government that is endeavouring to make the poorest pay for the sins of the Bankers! It makes my blood boil!
Make those that can afford to pay, pay...
Regards,
Pat Kehoe