Thousands of newly-separated or divorced parents are to be offered free information and support on arranging child maintenance thanks to a new initiative.
Parents on tax credits who contact Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to report changes of circumstance following family breakdown can now choose a call-back from the Child Maintenance Options service.
An estimated 91,000 children are already benefiting from collaborative family-based maintenance arrangements agreed between parents after contacting Child Maintenance Options – 30,000 more than a year ago. A similar number of children are benefiting from Child Support Agency arrangements made after one of their parents used the service.
It is estimated that around 60,000 people each year could benefit from this new initiative.