Evaluation of the Child Maintenance Options Service

Aim We wanted to establish whether the Child Maintenance Options Service telephone helpline increased the likelihood of separated parents making arrangements for child maintenance. What is the Child Maintenance Options Service? Definitions of child maintenance vary, for this study it was defined as financial support that helps towards a child’s everyday living costs when the parents have separated. The Child Maintenance Options Service offers information and support to help parents make decisions about their child maintenance arrangements. Findings Overall, parents were positive about the helpfulness of the service. While positive results were achieved after just one or two short telephone calls, the service was most effective for those who had more in-depth and personalised contact with the service. Maintenance arrangements Around 7% of parents, referred by the Jobcentre Plus, who had more in-depth interaction with the service later made maintenance arrangements that they would not otherwise have had. Parents who were more recently separated and where there was regular contact between the non-resident parent and the child and between parents, were more likely to have a maintenance arrangement in place eight to nine months after contact with the service. There was some evidence that the service helps to ensure that maintenance is working. Over two-fifths of parents who had some contact with the service did not have a maintenance arrangement eight to nine months later. Methodology We conducted a telephone survey of a random sample of helpline users, between February and September 2009. A total of 2,767 parents participated in two research interviews: an initial ‘baseline’ and an ‘outcomes’ interview around six to nine months later. We worked with freelancer Eleanor Ireland on this project

Who are Non-Resident Fathers?: A British Socio-Demographic Profile

Despite international growth of, and policy interest in, divorce and separation since the 1970s, there is still surprisingly little known about non-residential fatherhood. This paper presents a ‘father-centric’ analysis and provides one of the first profiles of non-residential fatherhood in early millennium UK. Using data from Understanding Society Wave 1, a nationally representative survey of over 30,000 households in the UK, we found 1,070 men self-identifying as having a non-resident child under 16 years old (https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk). We estimate a prevalence of 5 per cent of British men having a non-resident dependent child. Through latent class analysis, four distinct groups of non-resident fathers are identified: ‘Engaged’ fathers, ‘Less Engaged’ fathers, ‘Disengaged’ fathers and ‘Distance’ fathers. Our analysis finds that non-resident fathers form a heterogeneous group in terms of their socio-demographic profile and family behaviour. It is recommended that legislation and policy concerning fathers in post-separation families are sensitive to variation as well as commonality in socio-economic conditions and family lives and situations

Britain’s slow movement to a gender egalitarian equilibrium: parents and employment in the UK 2001–13

This article examines the working lives of British couple families across the first decade of the millennium using EU Labour Force Survey data (2001–13) taking a multiple equilibria approach. Some growth in dual full-time earners, increased working hours of mothers in part-time employment and a growing proportion of households with ‘non-standard’ working patterns are all identified, suggesting both a convergence and greater diversity in economic provisioning within parent couple households. Household employment patterns remain strongly associated with maternal education and family size but are becoming less sensitive to the age of the youngest child. The dual full-time earner model is growing in significance for British parents of young children but a new gender egalitarian equilibrium has not yet been reached