Independent report

SSAC Occasional Paper 22: Separated parents and the social security system

This report considers the experience of separated parents and their children in the social security and child maintenance systems.

• From: Social Security Advisory Committee
• Published: 22 October 2019
• Last updated: 21 July 2020
  Show all updates

  1. 21 July 2020

     Added the governments response to the 'SSAC Occasional Paper 22: Separated parents and the social security system' report.

  2. 18 February 2020

     This revised version of the report corrects a statement on aspects of the childcare cost element of Universal Credit (page 15). The Committee is grateful to Gingerbread for drawing this to our attention. We have also taken the opportunity to provide greater clarity around data provided on pages 21 and 24. We are grateful to Dr Christine Davies for her advice on this matter.

  3. 22 October 2019

     First published.

Documents

Response: SSAC Occasional Paper 22: Separated parents and the social security system

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Response: SSAC Occasional Paper 22: Separated parents and the social security system

PDF, 156 KB, 3 pages

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SSAC Occasional Paper 22: Separated parents and the social security system

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SSAC Occasional Paper 22: Separated parents and the social security system

PDF, 484 KB, 42 pages

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

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Details

This Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) report looks at how after parents separate, the social security and child maintenance systems supports the welfare of both parents and their children.

Separation is often a difficult and challenging life event, which carries an increased risk of negative outcomes and poorer life chances for the children and parents involved.

This SSAC report examines some of the issues involved and makes a number of recommendations to the Department for Work and Pensions.