New battle against absent dads?

Friday 09 September 2016

It could soon be harder for absent parents to duck out of paying maintenance for their children.

The Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel, who say one-parent families have been hardest hit by the MTFP cuts, have recommended Social Security take on someone to pursue absent parents for maintenance.

Social Security say they are still reviewing the Panel's report and the recommendations made but Barbara Corbett, a Partner at law firm Benest Corbett Renouf says it would be good news for her clients.

She said: “It is a problem that we have encountered with several of our clients. There are difficulties with the tax office too.

“Often benefit claimants are told that they have to pursue the fathers of their children (sometimes, but not often, it is mothers who are the absent parents) through the courts or their benefits will stop or be reduced.

“This can be silly because it is an expense to the parents if they have an income of over £15,000 a year, which can happen with Income Support if they are being given a rent allowance and allowance for more than one child.

“Legal Aid is usually available but there is a contribution of around £50 an hour towards their legal fees which is obviously out of most people’s reach.

Social Security say about half of the single adults bringing up children and on income support do get maintenance from their former partner and they make referrals to Citizens Advice so that single parents who don't can get advice on how to claim maintenance through the courts. But Mrs Corbett said that's an extra expense that often end up putting either the client or lawyers out of pocket.

She said: “Depending on the circumstances there may not be much prospect of actually getting a maintenance order and yet the claimant has to have all the stress and expense and inconvenience to pursuing a claim and that could also make the relationship between the parties more strained which is not good for the children.

“Again, quite often, lawyers end up not charging or not charging anything like the amount it costs, so they are also out of pocket.

“The idea of a dedicated officer to work with single parents is an excellent one, especially if that person engages with local family lawyers to find out what the issues are."

The Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel is also urging the Social Security Minister to reinstate the £40 per week one-parent component payment as a matter of urgency, saying her decision to remove it goes against clear evidence from the latest Jersey Household Income Distribution Survey that one-parent families within the Relative Low Income Threshold are worse off than they were.

According to the Social Security Department the change affects 1,300 one-parent households in Jersey, but will save the department £0.8 million this year.

They say they believe the most effective way to help parents is to support them back into work and make sure their benefits are fair and targeted to the people who need them the most.

But the Panel says one-parent families have been the hardest hit by the changes to benefits brought about by the MTFP in 2015 and say Children's Charity Variety is one of a number of organisations which have expressed concern for the position of one-parent families in the Island.

Variety said that they could not accept the position of the Minister for Social Security: ‘‘We in Variety have deep concern that Social Security is no longer paying the single parent allowance. Deputy Pinel is of the view that this will encourage the parent to pursue the absent parent for maintenance.

"This is most unlikely as we deal with the most vulnerable families where often the absent father is in prison, was abusive or is simply not known. Indeed I have only very recently had a phone call from a single parent mum who asked her legal aid lawyer to contact her child’s father as he had not paid maintenance ever. The consequence of that was he appeared early morning and emptied her dustbin on the door step and shouted abuse!’’

But Social Security said: "We do not expect customers to pursue maintenance payments if the absent parent is on Income Support, where there is a 50/50 shared care arrangement, when they have proof that the partner is violent or when the absent parent is in prison."