WIREDGOV

Fathers who no longer live with their partners and are on benefits should be made to work if they refuse to take financial responsibility for their children. A new report by leading think tank Policy Exchange says that the government should target these individuals and fast track them on to work experience schemes to try and get them back into the labour market. Men who refuse to participate should have their benefits removed.

The report – Father Figures – shows that absent fathers on benefits contribute £5 a week – less than a packet of cigarettes – in child benefit payments, regardless of the number of children they have with different mothers. Jamie Cumming, a 34 year-old unemployed man from Dundee who has fathered fifteen children with twelve different partners in the space of just sixteen years has been described as ‘Britain’s most feckless father’. 

The report estimates that there are up to 65,800 absent fathers who have been out of work for six months or longer. Because these men pay very little, the Child Support Agency (CSA), the body which is tasked with collecting these payments, has tended to put more emphasis on collecting child support from fathers who are working.  This means that responsible fathers have ended up paying for their own children, and contributing through their taxes to the child support costs of other, less responsible fathers.

The report notes that other countries, particularly the US and Germany, have been far more successful in making sure that absent fathers on benefits are taking on their parental responsibilities.

The report says that it is time the government forced these men to take responsibility for their actions. It makes a number of recommendations:

Impose work obligations on absent fathers claiming benefits. Any absent father who has been claiming Jobseekers Allowance for six months or longer would be fast tracked onto a work experience programme. If the alternative is working for benefits, people may be more likely to leave benefits and take paid work. Men who refuse to participate should forfeit their right to benefits

Require both mother and father to include their names on the birth certificate. Currently, the law requires only that the mother’s name be registered at the birth of a child, and more than 30,000 babies are born each year in Britain without the father’s name being recorded on their birth certificate. Including both parents on the birth certificate would ensure that all children know who their father is, and fathers can be held properly responsible for the children they have produced

Child maintenance payments remain in place for each child regardless if the parent goes on to have more children with new partners. This should encourage people not to have children they cannot afford to look after. A recent piece of research by Policy Exchange shows that two thirds (66%) of the public support capping benefits at three children

Exempt single parents claiming Income Support from paying a fee to access the CSA. The government’s proposals to introduce charges are a sensible attempt to push those parents who are capable of making their own arrangements into doing so. However, the new arrangements will mean people on benefits paying £50 to access the CSA, the equivalent to almost a week of Income Support. If they are trying to chase payment from an absent father on benefits who is obliged to pay £5 a week, the total they can expect to gain over a year from the CSA would be £260. Charging to access the CSA would deter those who most need financial support from accessing the service.

Peter Saunders, author of the report, “Most fathers want to do all they can to help and support their children, even when they find themselves unemployed.   But a minority persistently evade their responsibilities.  This is unfair on their children, their former partners, other fathers who are doing the right thing, and taxpayers, who have to pick up the tab.

“Organising work activity for tens of thousands of men, many of whom may have forgotten or never learned routine work discipline would be expensive. In the longer term, however, such a policy should reduce the burden on taxpayers, by getting at least some of these men back into useful employment. If they refuse to enrol onto these work schemes then benefits should be withdrawn.”

For more information or a copy of the full report contact Nick Faith on 07960 996 233 or at nick.faith@policyexchange.org.uk