Child Support and the Government’s Children’s Socio-economic Rights Obligations

This article argues that the recovery of child support is a vital aspect of ensuring children’s socio-economic rights. The UK Government has a legal responsibility to assist parents to meet the needs of their children, whether by providing specialist support or through welfare payments. The Government cannot fulfil this responsibility by requiring parents to reach private agreements and failing to provide suitable additional support. The current law and policy focus purely on the duty to maintain. It is assumed that each parent has the responsibility to provide for their children, and there is no back up support under the Child Support Act where the parents are unable to do this. This fails to acknowledge and resolve wider social issues which are crucial to ensuring that child support is received, and children are not living in unnecessary poverty. The article argues that by taking this approach the Government is failing to fulfil its responsibility to protect children’s socio-economic rights. This article sets out a socio-economic rights framework for amending child support legislation and policy, highlighting the bare minimum Government obligations.