£20million boost for relationship support
An extra £20 million will be made available to support separated and separating families as part of the radical overhaul of the Child Maintenance system, ministers announced last week (25 January 2012). The money, which doubles government spending on relationship support in 2012/13 is part of the radical reforms to repair the child support system. With estimates suggesting that a typical CSA case costing the taxpayer around £25,000 (rising to £40,000 if enforcement action is needed), the government is keen for families to make their own maintenance arrangements (and will be hoping that it will the taxpayer in the region of £45million a year).
A steering group of voluntary and community groups together with academics, will co-ordinate how best to spend the money and are considering the following ideas:
- A web service that will be able to provide on-line material and peer to peer forums as well as signposting parents to specialist websites and local support services in their area;
- Helpline support for separating parents who need information and contact details for specialist and local support services that could help them;
- Coordinated local services to offer help and support.
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