Economic Abuse: Mother's Struggle with Child Maintenance

0:00On March 10th, a mother from Yorkshire named Phoebe hoped the abuse ended when her ex-partner served in 18-month prison sentence for leaving her, with life-threatening injuries. But years later, he's still exerting control through the Child Maintenance Service by under-reporting his income for multiple businesses. This leaves her receiving just 7 pounds a week for their teenage son, and even that amount often goes unpaid. This tactic is a form of economic abuse, now recognized in the government's strategy on violence against women and girls. It affects 4.1 million women in the UK over the past year, with mothers 3 times more likely to face it. Since the service started in 2012, it has collected over 10 billion pounds for more than 1 million children, yet 700. 56 million pounds remains in arrears. Phoebe describes feeling trapped in the abuse cycle, now 5,000 pounds in debt from unpaid maintenance while raising her son alone. Other women share similar stories, like one left with 40,000 pounds of hidden debt and

1:01erratic payments due to service errors. They say loopholes let abusers rack up debts, pay minimally to reset enforcement and maintain power. Experts, including family lawyers, point out common tricks like hiding earnings or quitting jobs to dodge payments. Charities argue the system favors non-pares and discourages abuse reports, as jailed parents stop contributing. Officers from groups like surviving economic abuse call for major overhauls to protect kids from poverty. The government is addressing this by planning to scrap direct payments between parents, shifting everything to monitored collections. This should cut manipulation and ensure reliable support for families long after separations.