Fear that survivors domestic abuse will be singled out for punishment leads to objections by MP and advocacy group
SCOTTISH WOMENS AID (SWA) and the SNP have called on the UK Government to scrap the 4 per cent "tax on child support" that they state is putting domestic abuse survivors at risk.
The controversial "tax" is being introduced by the UK Government to help pay for a new system processing child maintenance payments at the same time as the former system is being shut down.
According to campaigners the changes in child maintenance will further deprive women of their financial independence and compound the effects of austerity on the lives of the most vulnerable.
"This is just not a feasible option for survivors of domestic abuse who often rely on these payments as a way of establishing a safe and independent life for themselves and their children." Angela Crawley
Speaking to CommonSpace Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of SWA, said: "Scottish Women's Aid continues to shake our collective head about the sheer insanity of policies like this. Whereas the 4 per cent charge to parents to collect much needed – and agreed! – sums to support their children is a nonsense, for women experiencing domestic abuse it is unthinkable.
"Women experiencing domestic abuse need to be free from the control – financial and otherwise – of partners and ex-partners and free to rebuild their and their children's lives.
"One of the biggest barriers to this freedom is financial dependence, and yet the Government sees fit to charge women on the one hand for asserting their rights to child maintenance while exhorting them to free themselves from the coercion and danger of domestic abuse. It is ethically dubious and practically dangerous.
"This is another tool in the suite of so-called welfare reforms that take money from single mothers' pockets to balance the budget."
"Women experiencing domestic abuse need to be free from the control – financial and otherwise – of partners and ex-partners and free to rebuild their and their children's lives." Dr Marsha Scott
The UK Government announced it will close down the Child Support Agency (CSA) which processes child maintenance payments between parents and will replaced by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).
The changes will mean that a parent caring for children will either be charged a 4 per cent "collection fee" for using the service or are obliged to give their bank details to the other parent in a "family-based" arrangement.
The department for work and pensions (DwP) states that the fee is for administration costs which will pay for the new system being set up, but campaigners suggest that this is a continuation of the policies of austerity.
Since 2010, it has been estimated that 86 per cent of the cuts to social security from then until 2020 will impact mainly on women.
Survivors of domestic abuse Are under particular threat from the the new CMS as in many cases they are too frightened to establish a "family-based arrangement" for fear that their abuser will be able to gain access to their personal details.
"One of the biggest barriers to this freedom is financial dependence, and yet the Government sees fit to charge women on the one hand for asserting their rights to child maintenance while exhorting them to free themselves from the coercion and danger of domestic abuse." Dr Marsha Scott
Angela Crawley MP, the SNP’s spokesperson for children, women and equalities, said: "It is all very well for the UK Government to encourage parents who have separated amicably to set up their own arrangements for paying child support but this is just not a feasible option for survivors of domestic abuse who often rely on these payments as a way of establishing a safe and independent life for themselves and their children.
"And so their only other option is to be charged a tax on child support payments that they are entitled too – the Tories have shown a complete lack of compassion by introducing this charge and even worse, they actually risk putting the lives of domestic abuse victim-survivors and their children in real danger.
"The Tories must look again at this unfair tax and listen to the cross-party calls to scrap it – ultimately, it will be the children that child maintenance payments are intended to support who will lose out."
Picture courtesy of Engender
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