has this been passed???

stokefan

http://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/netmums-coffeehouse-archives-528/james-purnell-helping-mums-back-work-208/197839-child-maintenance-changes-having-two-names-birth-certificates.html

sorry if its been posted before, but i have just found this
and also what about showing mums that parenthood is a huge responsability.

no wonder nrp(fathers) have a bad name when the government are tarnishing all fathers with same brush

TotallyBroke

There are +ves and -ves.
If you are a single mum of 4 each with a seperate Dad and was claiming child maintenance of approx £250 pm then I'd say you could end up with all your benefits and a substancial wage coming in. There would be no need to go to work until the youngest had moved out. For some they will be collecting the pension by then.
I think every father should be named on the birth cert unless the child is the victim of a rape and therefore father is unknown, but I would expect to see a police investigation looking for the offender so that he could be imprisoned. Drunken girls getting pregnant and not knowing whether Tom, !!!!!! or Harry fathered the child should not get help until she can prove by DNA test who is the father.

pnq06

Likewise, I can see the positives and negatives...

I know of someone who has 5 children with 4 different dads and she claims maintenence from all of them (fair enough they are the fathers kids too) but her attitude is one of "The government pay for me to stay home to look after my kids" so as long as she keeps having kids to different men she'll be on a nice little earner with her benefits too :rolleyes:

But then again, I have a friend (single parent) who works hard to make sure her little boy has everything he wants/needs and so in this case it will make the boy better off in many ways whilst growing up.

I have a step son that we pay maintenance for, I don't begrudge paying it but he never looks to be well looked after and lives in a dump and we pay £200pm- Our child however costs nowhere near that and she looks much better in appearance.. But then again, I guess that opens up a debate about where the money is spent...

Personally I would like to see this benefit single parents who do work and don't look at giving birth as their "job"

stokefan

Has it been passed though.

TotallyBroke

No I think the original plan was for April 2010 but whether it is still going ahead I am unsure. Or if there have been any amendments since that first draft I am unsure.

SuziQ

At the moment maintenance can be arranged privately and a mum on benefits is supposed to tell the benefits people how much they get-they are then allowed to keep £20 pw on top if their benefit. This relies on the pwc being honest...
Many people get around the system anyway by recieving maintenance in other ways-ie the absent parent may pay the mortgage etc. If the pwc doesn't physically recieve the money this is apparently legal (in fact it was what my lone parent advisor told me to try to arrange with my ex.) If the father had children with more than one woman however it is more complicated as if one mum gets the CSA involved and he can't prove he is providing for the other child then the payments can become unfair in favour of one of the children.
From an absent parents point of view,I would think it would be very demoralising if they are paying a decent amount of money to their child/ren but the family is still struggling because benefits are reduced accordingly.

Of course in an ideal world,very few people would be on benefit. However when I was Health Visiting I frequently visited families where for generations no one had worked.How do we get the kids of those families into a working mindset? They have never seen anyone set an alarm and force themselves to go out in bad weather to a job they didn't particularly like. I am currently unable to work whilst I wait for a second op following cancer,but having worked for almost 30 years of my life I know the benefit of earning your own money-and can't wait to go back! I am unlikely to earn what I used to but feel that even if I only earn what I currently get in benefit I would rather be working-but for those youngsters who have never worked and now find themselves parents I would love to know how we could get them to a working mindset,rather than just stopping benefit and using the stick method as I can't see that ever happening in this country.

I would also love to know how we can get some men to honour their responsibility to their children. My first husband has never paid CM and the CSA gave up as he was self employed,had no driving licnce to take and he kept changing address before changing his ID,NHS number etc. I have to listen to his tales of several holidays a year-Thailand,China,Sri Lanka, America-whilst I struggle to buy trainers and school stuff feeling I am paying for his holidays. He does now give out oldest some money during term time now she is at Uni,but that is little enough help after 13 years of none.