The current scheme was heavily influenced by the Treasury. Read, for example:
Child Support In Action
Gwynn Davis, Nick Wikeley, Richard Young with Jacquelin Barron, Julie Bedward
Hart Publishing, 1998
ISBN 1-901362-70-1
Trial and error: a review of UK child support policy
Helen Barnes, Patricia Day, Natalie Cronin
Family Policies Study Centre, 1998
ISBN 1-9011455-08-4