This petition was submitted during the 2010-2015 parliament
Petition Change Child Benefit for separated parents
More details
After separation, only one parent can receive the Child Benefit, and all other benefits are directly tied to Child Benefit. In a case where 2 children spend 3 days a week with one parent and 4 days a week with the other, the division of care would be 43%/57%, and the division of benefits would be 0%/100%. The total annual income to support both children (assuming an earned income of £0, and taking into account only Child Benefit and tax credits) would be £0/£5400. In addition, the parent who has the children 4 days a week can claim child maintenance of up to 8% of the other parent’s income. Assuming the national average wage this would be £47 per week.
Total annual difference:
£10,288 in favour of the parent who spends only 1 day a week more with the children.
This disparity needs to be addressed and discussed in Parliament and a solution found a simple solution is to split Child Benefit and associated benefits/credits according to the amount of care each parent provides.
This petition closed early because of a General Election
5 signatures
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10,000 signatures required to get a government response