Whilst we’re on the subject, we also contributed to this excellent research carried out by Katherine Hill and Donald Hirsh of Loughborough University for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, looking at the needs and costs of non-resident parents  Minimum Income Standard for non-resident parents with some responsibilities for children | Joseph Rowntree Foundation (jrf.org.uk). The conclusions include: 

“Based on providing a minimum acceptable standard of living, a single person needs to increase their budget by around a quarter to look after a school age child every other weekend and during holidays, and by around a sixth in the case of a pre-school child.”

and that:

“A key policy issue is that the social security system treats a non-resident parent with responsibilities for a child as a single person, which ignores the additional costs highlighted in this study. Potential consequences for non-resident parents on a low income are the risks that children who visit do not have their needs adequately met, or that they are prevented from visiting, with implications for the extent of shared responsibility in their upbringing.”

It provides recommendations for government to make additions to Universal Credit and other social security to alleviate these issues. We will be sharing the report in discussions with the CMS and with our network and we encourage you to reference it when writing to your MP about the financial struggles of being a non-resident parent.

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