ABSTRACT
The new interest in child support arose partly as a result of the increase in the numbers of lone parents and their dependence on benefits, partly from a more fundamentally moral view that biological parents should be responsible for their children throughout their lives, and partly from the knowledge derived from research that existing maintenance awards through the courts were low, irregularly paid and often not reviewed over time. The Bradshaw and Millar (1991) survey found that only 29 per cent of lone parents at anyone time were receiving regular payments from a non-resident father, with a mean payment per child of £ 16 per week. When the White Paper 'Children Come First' was published in 1990, benefit savings and increased incentives for lone parents to join the labour force were added to the objectives of the reforms of child support. In the Second Reading of the Child Support Bill the hope was also expressed that enforcing the obligation to pay maintenance might persuade fathers to retain their marital and paternal duties and be less inclined to conceive children outside marriage.
