Child Maintenance Campaign

There is an endless stream of data to support the need for targeted specialist support and advocacy for lone parent families, and there is no doubt they are a particularly vulnerable and diverse Child Poverty priority group. We specialise in engaging lone parents and families in need. Not only delivering family support services through our projects, but also raising awareness of the systemic and structural challenges that hold families stuck in poverty. Challenges such as child maintenance.

“Why is Child Maintenance not treated like a benefit? Like something you’re entitled to?”

Fife Gingerbread Parent

In 2016 we published partnership research raising awareness of the challenges of the Child Maintenance System (CMS). Click here to access this research which led to the Bairns Come First partnership campaign. Since then we have continued to work locally, and with national partners, to raise awareness of the failures of the system itself. CMS was designed to promote family based arrangements and reduce the ‘burden’ on the state to intervene. However, there is a wealth of research and evidence highlighting the failures of the existing system that in too many cases fails to meet the needs of families.

We have launched updated research in 2023 (click here to access) which explores child maintenance in the context of a cost of living crisis, and we will publish this research (in partnership with Poverty Alliance) in the coming months! The primary drivers for the work are income maximisation, poverty and children’s rights.

“Child Maintenance would help me a bit towards getting things my son needs such as new shoes.”

Research Participant

Child Maintenance is overlooked as an opportunity in our national mission to tackle Child Poverty. The system requires targeted transformational change to ensure it works for families and puts Children’s Rights at its heart.

We have a new Child Maintenance Support project (link to project here) where we can provide direct support to lone parent families in Fife, and we will be developing training to upskill practitioners and build capacity in the workforce. This is part of an exciting systems change partnership – working with One Parent Families Scotland, IPPR Scotland, Fife Gingerbread and Poverty Alliance.

Watch this space for the next steps and developments in this important area!

To find out more about the campaign and recent actions, please contact our Strategic Manager laura.millar@fifegingerbread.org.uk