According to the Office for National Statistics, half of all children in the UK come from separated households. Thankfully, more parents than ever are being granted shared care orders, or custody arrangements that more accurately reflect the needs of the child to spend a significant amount of time with each parent. Whilst this is a hugely positive step, current benefit legislation is making it almost impossible for parents who are not deemed ‘the primary carer’ to adequately provide for their children. ‘Non primary carer’ parents - who do, in some cases, have their children 50% of the time - are not deemed eligible for the child element of Universal Credit, because the government states this can only be paid to one parent. In the case of a 50/50 split, it will go to the parent who receives Child Benefit. This is usually the parent whose address was used when registering the child to a doctors surgery or school.

We now have a situation where thousands of parents - because they spend one night less a week with their children, or simply did not end up residing in the family home post break up - are deemed ineligible for financial support, despite needing to provide the same amount of space, food, clothing etc as the so called ‘primary carer.’ On top of this, they are often required to pay maintenance to the parent who is already receiving 100% of the benefits.

This is a nonsensical set up, and the government’s best advice is for separated parents to split the money amongst themselves if they choose; something that is highly unlikely to happen even amongst the most amicable co-parents. ‘Non-resident’ parents - and again, these can be parents who have their children exactly half of the time - are pushed into poverty. The ‘primary carer’ with three children will receive housing benefit that reflects their need to have adequate bedroom space. The non primary carer is entitled to (at most) a room in a shared house. The outcome is that non primary carers are either having to bring up their children in impossible situations, or stretch themselves so thinly to provide the basics that their time with their children - often the time which was ‘awarded’ to them by the British legal system - suffers hugely because they can only afford the most basic quality of life. In extreme cases, they simply cannot afford to care for their children at all, meaning that children are deprived of a relationship with someone the government has deemed a loving and fit parent purely because of the ridiculous way the benefits system has been designed. 

If the government is going to supposedly support children in having a relationship with both parents, they need to recognise - but more importantly change - the lunacy of the current situation. On the gov.uk website, there is a report stating that the way the Universal Credit is allocated will seriously negatively impact the relationship between child and non resident parent. It says they ‘do not know’ how such parents deal with the financial pressure. No child should ever have to grow up in poverty, but this specific situation is at least easy to fix - it’s time for it to be brought to attention beyond just the people living through it, so that children from separated lower income families, who have already been through potentially traumatic family breakdowns, genuinely have the opportunity to thrive with both parents.