Closed petition Amend child maintenance rules to ensure benefits to the child

Closed on 6 February 2019

There are currently no CSA/DWP guidelines which govern how child maintenance payments are used by the resident parent. Rules should be introduced to ensure child maintenance payments are used fairly & reasonably for the benefit of the child and not solely for the benefit of the resident parent.

This principle can be achieved by allowing the non-res parent to purchase a pre-defined list of items if not provided by the res parent (e.g. school uniforms/shoes/dinner money/trips, basic clothing needs, public transport fares for travel to/from college, etc.) and to deduct the cost of such items from the amount of CM payable subject to provision of receipts. The res parent could still take action if they believed that deductions were being made unreasonably or outside the CSA/DWP guidelines.