ABERDEENSHIRE East MSP Gillian Martin has called for constituents to back a petition pushing for an end to a Tory government policy which taxes victims of domestic abuse.
A ‘Collect-and-Pay’ service currently exists which allows receipt of child maintenance from one partner to another but the UK Government adds a four per cent collection charge on child maintenance payments which must be paid by parents using the service.
The payments made to the ‘Collect-and-Pay’ are managed by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) and can be removed directly from the paying parent’s bank account. The CMS also has the powers to ensure the maintenance is paid on time and in full.
Victims of domestic violence are exempt from the £20 application fee but no exemptions are made from a four per cent monthly charge on payments which is then taken off the money they receive from their former partner. Mothers are being encouraged to liaise directly with former partners in order to skip the fee but campaigners have warned this could put women back in touch with formerly abusive partners.
Martin stressed the ‘direct-pay’ service does not offer the same protection as ‘Collect-and-Pay’ and can continue the cycle of abuse and insisted it was “yet another assault on vulnerable women who have suffered abuse”.
She said: “We have already been campaigning after the Tories introduced a heinous policy to make women sign a form confirming their child had been conceived through rape in order to receive tax credits. Yet again, they want to subject women to danger.”
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