Separated Parents without a financial Child Maintenance arrangement: Qualitative Research
The research explored the barriers to making a financial arrangement and the type of support that parents would like in order to make an arrangement.
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Research background
This research involved 40 in-depth interviews with non-matched separated parents who did not have a regular financial child maintenance arrangement in place. The parents had previously taken part in the Survey of Separated Parents, had no financial arrangement in place and had agreed to be contacted again for future research.
Interviews took place with 24 parents with care and 16 non-resident parents. The interviews were conducted between 20th October and 5th November 2021. These interviews were not matched – only one parent for each family was interviewed.
The research focused on the following:
- parent’s understanding of what constitutes a financial child maintenance arrangement.
- the circumstances by which individuals became separated parents without a child maintenance arrangement.
- barriers to setting up and maintaining a financial arrangement.
- availability of support for separated parents and barriers to accessing this support.
Contribution to the evidence base
This research contributes to the body of evidence on separated parents and child maintenance that can be used to inform policy and delivery decisions in the future.
Research value
Findings from this research will help inform child maintenance policy decisions by allowing the department to understand separated parents without a financial child maintenance arrangement and the type of support that would help them make an arrangement.