Family Law

Research published in April 2006 by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), 'Families With Children in Britain: Findings from the 2004 Families and Children Study (FACS)' by Matt Barnes, Nick Lyon and Daniel Sweiry describes the characteristics and circumstances of families and children in 2004. The study began in 1999, with a representative sample of all lone parents and low/moderate-income couple families. From 2001 a representative sample of lone parents and all couple families with dependent children were interviewed. The sample was drawn from Child Benefit records.

Findings from DWP research investigating the potential suitability of private maintenance payments for current CSA clients was published in March 2006. At present, child maintenance payments can be paid in two ways: the Collection Service (CS), where payments are processed by the CSA; or Maintenance Direct (MD), where the non-resident parent (NRP) makes payments to the parent with care (PWC) directly. The research study examined the extent to which MD may be appropriate for CSA clients and the influences and experiences that might impact upon parental decisions to adopt such a payment method. Both reports are available on www.dwp.gov.uk.