Q&A with Work and Pensions Minister Maria Miller on child support changes

mrsspendalot

I didn't read it as being on top of maintenance payments, I read it as questioning what the maintenance payments were supposed to be used to contribute towards?

DX2

shell_542 wrote: »

Maybe I did, it looked to me like it meant if child support was goibg towards the PWCs bills.

Having re read it, you are correct and I am wrong. I really need to stop scanning things so quickly.

mrsspendalot

DX2 wrote: »

Having re read it, you are correct and I am wrong. I really need to stop scanning things so quickly.

Maybe you mis-read it in your surprise at all the non-answers given!

DX2

mrsspendalot wrote: »

I didn't read it as being on top of maintenance payments, I read it as questioning what the maintenance payments were supposed to be used to contribute towards?

Which in itself is another stupid question.
A child uses electric/gas/hot water, and a child needs a roof over their head. You should be able to use child support to help contribute to these costs, in exactly the same way if they need a new pair of trainers/trousers.

mrsspendalot

DX2 wrote: »

Which in itself is another stupid question.
A child uses electric/gas/hot water, and a child needs a roof over their head. You should be able to use child support to help contribute to these costs, in exactly the same way if they need a new pair of trainers/trousers.

Absolutely .... like I said in response to a previous poster, it's not like you can have British Gas bill you separately for your usage and your child's usage is it?!! Can you imagine trying to work out how many beans from the tin you heated in the microwave, at what wattage, and for how long, where eaten by your child just to make sure you only used maintenance to pay for those ones .....:rotfl:

DX2

dmg24 wrote: »

Absolutely - different rules for different groups.

Maybe it could be seen as the new way to up your income

Several one night stands with a few blokes with plenty of wonga and Bob's yer uncle :think: You wouldn't happen to know anyone like that :rotfl:

I can understand the outrage though before I get hammered!

shell_542

Sadly I know someone like that. One night stand, happily accepts the cash from the NRP but doesnt want them to have a relationship with the child. But hey they have their income, their partner's income and the child 100% of their free time as they'll only allow the NRP to see their child while they are at work.

clearingout

MP got back to me. He is a (very) young Conservative. It is a considered response, to be fair to him, although tows the party line which I pretty much expected. He states clearly that the CSA doesn't do the job it was set up to do ('poorly managed'), that changes need to be made and that he spends a lot of time dealing with constituent complaints about the CSA (says it all!). He is supportive of trying to get parents to come to their own arrangements and not use the CSA as a first port of call (has some research been done somewhere that shows the majority of cases are just opened because parents think that's the only way to do it?) but admits some discomfort with charging. He has asked Maria Miller to respond to him and he will send me that response when he has it.

I am quite pleased in that it is clear he (or one of his aides) read the letter and thought about it. I guess that's all you can ask. I'll let you know if he ever gets back to me with Ms Miller's response!

mrsspendalot

clearingout wrote: »

MP got back to me. He is a (very) young Conservative. It is a considered response, to be fair to him, although tows the party line which I pretty much expected. He states clearly that the CSA doesn't do the job it was set up to do ('poorly managed'), that changes need to be made and that he spends a lot of time dealing with constituent complaints about the CSA (says it all!). He is supportive of trying to get parents to come to their own arrangements and not use the CSA as a first port of call (has some research been done somewhere that shows the majority of cases are just opened because parents think that's the only way to do it?) but admits some discomfort with charging. He has asked Maria Miller to respond to him and he will send me that response when he has it.

I am quite pleased in that it is clear he (or one of his aides) read the letter and thought about it. I guess that's all you can ask. I'll let you know if he ever gets back to me with Ms Miller's response!

I got a very standard response from my MP (also Tory) which basically just summarised the reasons for the White Paper. Then he hand wrote on the bottom 'and if you could see the amount of time I spend just on CSA complaints alone you would see why it is a good thing'. I was one of those complaints - and he successfully got me some money!

DX2

I'm still waiting for Danny boy to reply, he must be far too busy down in the big city these days