Appendix 2
Memorandum by BBC Radio 4: You and Yours
You and Yours is BBC Radio 4's flagship consumer
and social affairs programme broadcast between 12 noon and 1pm
every week day lunchtime.
The programme has 3.181 million listeners per week.
Their average age is 59. 56.1 percent of You and Yours listeners
are female. 43.9 percent are male.
The social grading of listeners breaks down as follows:
- A and B: 36 percent
- C1: 36 percent
- C2: 14.4 percent
- D and E: 13.6 percent.
INTRODUCTION
Between 20th February and 6th March, working in conjunction
with the Work & Pensions Select Committee, we gave our listeners
the unique opportunity to contribute directly to the committee's
inquiry into the Child Support Agency.
Our phone in programme 'Call You & Yours' -
which invited listeners to air their views on the Child Support
Agency - was broadcast between 12.00 - 13.00 on Tuesday 6th March
2007 on BBC Radio 4. We asked our listeners to give us their views
on:
"ideas and solutions- what would make the
failing system work better"
RESPONSE
We had a reasonably large response; within two weeks
we received 299 emails, calls, texts and letters. For this report
we have used a sample of 100 calls, emails and texts. They break
down into 7 broad categories:
- 28% (28 listeners) responded
with their negative experiences of the Child Support Agency.
- 27% (27 listeners) responded with their suggestions
on what would make the agency work better.
- 18% (18 listeners) said the biggest problem was
to do with contact issues and the bias towards the parent with
care.
- 9% (9 listeners) contacted us with regards to
benefits
- 6% (6 listeners) said voluntary agreements were
an issue (when they worked and when they didn't)
- 6% (6 listeners) contacted us with regards to
problems with tracing and assessing an absent parent
- 6% (6 listeners) made general comments on the
Child Support Agency
1. Examples of those who responded with regards
to mistakes being made by the Child Support Agency
I am a lone parent and have been fighting the CSA
for over five years - my ex husband walked out of me and our two
children aged 5 years and 6 weeks at the time. He was self employed
and at first was assessed to pay £5 a week because he claimed
he earned such a small income that he was unable to pay more.
Then he had another child with a new partner and was then assessed
to pay zero. I have appealed, complained and a new assessment
was made. However he was never chased up or enforced to pay the
money and now arrears have built up. The CSA knows where he lives
and works but nothing is done. Their excuse is that he is self
employed and unless he tells them what he is earning there is
no way of them knowing for sure. I feel the Child Support Agency
has let me and my children down. I was told by the CSA that it
wasn't worth me pursuing the case but I believe the agency should
hound absent parents to make them pay. This situation is not fair
on me or my children.
My wife's ex-husband remarried and has refused to
declare his new wife's income to the CSA. He subsequently gave
up work to live on her income (which was likely to be much greater
than his). This meant that my wife received just £5 a week
to help care for their 13 year old daughter. Whilst her ex-husband
and his new wife bought a new house and moved up the property
ladder! I had disclosed my income to the CSA as requested. There
should be some way of compelling parties to provide all of the
information required by the CSA so that fair and complete assessments
can be made of parental responsibilities.
2. Examples of Solutions
Absent parents details including national insurance
numbers should go to the Dept of Revenue & Customs and the
money for their children should be deducted from their wages via
a tax code so that everyone including the employer knew exactly
what was happening
There has been lots of talk about enforcement but
what about offering a 'carrot' to those parents that pay on time
a bit like when people pay their utilities bills on time. Maybe
that would encourage more people to pay on time?
3. Examples of shared access and contact
Yes it is terrible that there are many divorced fathers
that are not morally and financially supporting their children.
However, the family law in the UK is so biased towards the mother
(when did you last here of a father having residential custody?)
and slow to resolve matters that for many divorced dads a financial
protest is often the only real option open to them.
Tony Blair and David Cameron can talk about swift
action on fathers who do not contribute to their children, but
what about the thousands of mothers who withhold access or play
visiting 'right games' with their children? Currently it can take
2 years and countless hours of negotiation and penalising legal
costs to resolve such matters if one goes through the legal channel;
is it any wonder that dads refuse to pay when they are being refused
their rights to see their children.
If you want reform of family law it should be from
the bottom up, don't just select easy political targets for a
quick vote. I think withholding money is a way for dads to protest
against the laws which are so biased towards the mother.
The battle would be over in a day if maintenance
and access were agreed as part of an overall deal. Most reasonable
people would agree that they should be separate issues but when
a relationship breaks down people stop being reasonable. There
is everything to gain & literally nothing to lose. Maintenance
and access both have to be agreed so why not do it together and
remove the "I'm not paying because she won't give me access"
and "I'm not giving him access because he won't pay maintenance"
arguments at a stroke.
This should release the resources to concentrate
on those who simply refuse to pay anything and that go to great
lengths to hide their income and assets.
4. Examples of benefit issues
Scrap it completely and go back to taking non paying
non resident ex partners to court to arrange private payments
without taking step children into consideration. My ex got into
a relationship with a woman who already had 2 children (by two
different fathers) and they plan to marry so his stepchildren
will be considered when assessing his expenditure. Their fathers
should be paying for them just as my ex should be paying for our
baby. Income support should not be affected by non resident parent's
contributions; after all isn't it CHILD maintenance not paying
off mum's Income Support!
I pay 180 pounds per month to the CSA for the support
of my 4 year old daughter. My ex partner, who is living on benefits,
does not receive a penny of this. Am I right in thinking that
the amount I pay is deducted from her benefits? If so, it seems
grossly unfair that money I pay over to support my child is not
being used for that purpose, but instead to save the government
paying out to support my ex and her other child by another father
who pays no maintenance. Surely there must be a way of ring fencing
the money paid out for my child, or at least letting the mother
keep the money for the purpose intended. At the moment my daughter
is being kept in poverty by the system even though she has a responsible
father who thought he was paying for her up keep.
5. Example of voluntary agreements
My husbands ex wife complained to him that she was
not getting any maintenance money regularly but this was despite
the fact that the money was coming straight out of his bank account
every month. Because the CSA didn't seem to be able to pay her
on time every month they decided to come up with a private agreement
and now she gets the money paid straight into her bank from her
ex husbands account every month. Private agreements really are
the way forward.
6. Example of problems tracing and assessing an
absent ex partner
My baby was born in December 2005. In February 2006
I applied to CSA for maintenance but heard nothing from them for
6 months. It was only when I called THEM I was told that my application
had been archived because they couldn't prove the identity of
my ex partner because they couldn't trace his NI number. Why didn't
they write to me to let me know - I could have taken the action
I have been forced to take now a year ago. The only way I can
get evidence for the CSA is to take my ex to court under a Declaration
of Parentage order. I will then be issued with a "court decree"
in my favour which I can then take to the CSA to process my case.
Because I am on Income Support I will only receive £10 p/w
if I'm lucky because the remainder will pay back my income support,
so it won't be child support it will be government support and
my son and I will be no better off!
You and Yours feedback:
This programme prompted a very good response on 'Call
You and Yours'. The majority of emails and phone calls came in
during the one hour broadcast (approximately 200 emails and 50
phone calls). The vast majority of listeners who contacted us
were keen to share their personal experience of the Child Support
Agency and a good number had well thought out suggestions and
solutions to make the agency work better. Most were keen to be
involved with the radio programme because of the potential to
help shape the Select Committee's final report.
BBC Radio 4: You & Yours March 2007
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
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