Summary

Scope

The sole scope of this evidence is the White Paper's formula for assessing liability when both parents share the care of the qualifying children.

Thesis

The White Paper's formula for the shared care case is seriously flawed:

This evidence proposes a fairer formula, similar to that used elsewhere in the world.

Specific points

The fair formula poses no risk to parents on benefits. They would never be worse off under this fairer formula.

The fair formula does not impose an extra load on taxpayers. In fact, it may even provide a (very tiny) extra benefit reduction.

The fair formula does not impose a significant extra administration cost or run the risk of repeating the current complexity. It only adds to administration costs in specific cases (both parents earning and sharing care), it doesn't add much cost or complexity, and since these are private cases the extra cost could easily be recovered by a service change.

The fair formula would not result in bad behaviour. In fact, because it is fair, it would discourage parents from playing games, and encourage non-benefits parents to make their own arrangements without involving the CSA at all.