Eliminate sex discrimination from child support
What?
This is not a discussion about whether the way Family Courts assign residency or access favours mothers. Nor is it about whether the CSA's culture is biased towards women.
There is there an explicit bias in the child support legislation in favour of mothers against fathers. (There may be more than one). It needs to be removed.
Why?
Does explicit sex bias in legislation matter? Decide for yourself.
Are there enough cases to worry about? Remember that for every one of the people adversely affected, they cannot get consolation in the fact that there aren't many of them. They are each affected 100%, for up to 18 years.
But what really matters is that this shows the biases and deep flaws in the UK's child support system. This bias (above) was known to ministers and law-makers at the time they wrote the law. They simply decided that it was at least acceptable, if not desirable.
How?
Prefereably change the social security laws. Failing that, take the Child Benefit criterion out of the child support laws.
References
| Relationship to other Agenda items |
| Parents should have equal status by default |
These items are obviously thwarted by any form of explicit sex discrimination in the child support system. |
| Use a symmetrical formula that treats both parents similarly |
| Other pages in this web site |
| 2000 Act - sex discrimination in the child support law |
In summary:
- all other things being equal, the person who receives Child Benefit is the one designated the parent with care (PWC), and hence receive child support from the other parent, who will therefore be designated non-resident parent (NRP)
- all other things being equal, Child Benefit is allocated to wives (when the parents are married) or mothers (where they are not married)
|
| Potential lobby groups |
| Families Need Fathers |
|
| NACSA |
|
| Other relevant external links |
| Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women |
Article 13. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in other areas of economic and social life in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular:
(a) The right to family benefits;
|
| Father loses child benefit test case |
A father who wanted a share of the benefits his ex-wife receives for their child has lost his High Court test case. A judge rejected the claim by firefighter [X] that fathers separated from their wives should have the legal right to share child benefits with mothers if they played an equal role in caring for their children. |
|