Child maintenance is biggest separation headache, say region’s parents – but most are going without expert help.

7 July 2009

Now a free and impartial service offers information and support for both parents.

A lack of knowledge about how to sort out child maintenance issues could be adding to the heartache of separation and divorce and unnecessarily jeopardising children's financial future.

In a survey of parents in the central region well over half said that providing for their children would be the most important financial issue if they were to separate.

But of those who had actually separated, 87% did not know where to find useful information about child maintenance and/or were reluctant to get involved with the child support authorities. Most relied on family and friends.

The survey was compiled on behalf of Child Maintenance Options, the free and impartial new service for separating parents who want to make the most appropriate maintenance arrangements for them and their children. That might include sorting it out privately between the two parents – a choice that 40% of parents polled didn’t know was available to them.

Arranging child maintenance has changed a great deal in the past year and, as this survey so clearly shows, people have been going without accurate and up-to-date information.

says Janet Paraskeva, Chair of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, which manages the new service.

Child Maintenance Options is impartial, confidential and is here for both parents. Nobody is compelled to use the Child Support Agency any more if they can sort things out for themselves, but we recognise that some parents will always need the help of the state service.

The survey, conducted among 1,000 parents in areas including Birmingham, Nottingham, Leicester, Northampton, Oxford and Stoke-on-Trent, coincides with this week’s launch of a major campaign in the central region to promote the new service.

The Child Maintenance Options service not only informs parents about the different ways to arrange maintenance but also talks them through how to work out the most suitable arrangement based on circumstances such as income, housing and if there are other children involved. Child Maintenance Options specialists will also give support on other issues parents face in making maintenance arrangements, such as legal, employment and money concerns. It’s hoped the Child Maintenance Options service will be able to make the process of paying maintenance simpler to understand and arrange.

Child Maintenance Options can be accessed by calling free on 0800 0834 375, between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday or 9am to 4pm on Saturday. Alternatively they can visit the website www.cmoptions.org.