Adrian Sanders MP has launched a campaign in Parliament to raise awareness about the difficulties posed by the child benefit system to effective and fair shared parenting.
Under the present arrangements, child benefit and child tax credits can only be paid to one parent and this discriminates financially against the other parent. This makes it more difficult for the non-benefit receiving parent to share custody of their child, as they may not have access suitable housing or may not have the additional income required to provide for their child.
The Government do not hold statistics concerning the number of shared residence orders, but it is estimated that there are several thousands. Shared custody results from divorce and separation where an agreement on access and residence is not immediately found.
Early Day Motion 306, which Adrian has tabled, calls for the Government to recognise this problem and take action to address the problems caused by the child benefit system to shared parenting.
Adrian commented: “The Government policy concerning child benefits and tax credits clearly does not do enough to support family arrangements of shared parenting and this inadequacy damages the quality of life of parents and children.
This is clearly a very sensitive issue for the families involved and the Government must do more to recognise the difficulties the system can create. I am keen to hear from anyone affected by this inequality to enable me to better tackle this issue in Parliament.”
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