The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission has recently published the results of a study into the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Options telephone service.
The study was based on data gathered between February and September 2009, and looked at the effect the service had on parents who had accessed it during this period.
The study found that the majority of parents found the experience of using the telephone service to be a positive one, with 67% reporting that they found it either very helpful or quite helpful.
Over half of parents reported that within eight or nine months of contacting Child Maintenance Options they had a maintenance agreement in place, although a number of these agreements may have already been in place before the service was contacted.
The study revealed that most of the parents who used the service were single mothers on low incomes who had been referred from Jobcentre Plus.
The study also found that:
- Maintenance agreements were more likely to be in place in situations where parents were recently separated and still in regular contact with each other.
- Around 56% of parents with an agreement in place reported that it was family-based. Around 41% said that their agreement had been made through the Child Support Agency.
- Over 40% of parents didn't have a maintenance agreement, usually because their ex-partner was either unable or unwilling to pay, or because their current location was unknown.
