Memorandum submitted by National Association
for Child Support Action (NACSA) (CS 36)
1. NACSA does not believe the government's
proposed scheme will work any better than the current system.
It will not gain widespread support, will not increase compliance
and will fail children, families and the taxpayer.
2. NACSA wants to see a radical departure
from DSS-led child support. We advocate a discretionary system
based upon mediation and administered by genuinely independent
tribunals or a new unitary family court.
3. NACSA believes that any new system must
enshrine these principles:
— financial provision is only one aspect
of supporting children.
— the best interests of children must
always come first.
— both parents are responsible for
financially supporting their children to the best of their abilities—the
burden should not fall entirely on one or the other.
— child maintenance payments should
primarily benefit the children, not reimburse the Treasury for
welfare expenditure.
— it must fully take into account all
the circumstances and needs of both parents and all the children
of the family.
— it must be free of rigid formulae
because no formula can cover the widely varying circumstances
of individual families.
— it must be efficient, cost-effective
and provide high-quality service based on sensitivity and customer
care.
4. NACSA believes the present proposals
are, as in the previous system, designed primarily to reduce or
recoup welfare expenditure—benefiting children remains a
secondary consideration. Although NACSA recognised that taxpayers
have a legitimate stake, their interests must not come before
those of children. Government claims the proposed scheme will
balance the interests of children, resident parents, non-resident
parents and the "rights" of the taxpayer. It won't and
it can't because these interests are conflicting—no system
can please all of the people all of the time.
5. Child support is a minefield—by
definition, it affects families which have broken up or were never
together. More often than not, the parties are in dispute. Sensitivity,
negotiation and natural justice are prerequisites of any system.
The scheme proposed in the green paper will not deliver any of
these.
6. Child support is the only major aspect
of divorce and separation dealt with by the DSS rather than the
LCD. As the DSS spectacularly failed to deliver the present child
support regime, expecting the new proposals to work seems a triumph
of hope over experience.
September 1999
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