Nick Woodall

More statistics, less reality (Mon, 26 Jul 2010)
Single parent organisation Gingerbread’s latest broadside against the Child Maintenance Commission and (so-called) non resident parents has seen press releases in every constituency in the UK highlighting, what it claims to be, the amount of maintenance owed to parents. It claims that, nationally, £3,761 million was owed in child maintenance arrears as of March 2010. [...]
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Coalition government’s plans for families and children (Fri, 21 May 2010)
Earlier today, the Government issued its programme for partnership government over the next five years. Amongst other policy aspirations, The Coalition: our programme for government, outlines plans for families and children. There an encouragement of shared parenting, flexible parental leave, funding for relationship support and a ‘review of family law in order to increase the [...]
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Well done FSA! (Fri, 22 Jan 2010)
I recently contacted the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to congratulate them on the Separation and Divorce section of their MoneyMadeClear website. I came across the site via a link from Child Maintenance Options and was keen to find out whether the impartial, non judgemental language of Options was reflected in the FSA’s information. I couldn’t [...]
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Sugar and Spice, Slugs and Snails (Wed, 16 Dec 2009)
‘He also made, I think, a very valid point about people moving off the system altogether and whether or not the Options service will be an approach were people do, in fact, get everything to which they are entitled. And I know that, for example, Gingerbread are particularly concerned that we might just see a [...]
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Death of Robert Enke highlights need for new attitudes (Sun, 15 Nov 2009)
The apparent suicide of Robert Enke, the Hannover 96 and German international goalkeeper has come as a shock to the world of football and is a tragedy for his wife and family. Reports suggest that he had suffered from depressive illness for many years and that this was exacerbated by the death of his daughter [...]
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Clear English and respectful language (Fri, 21 Aug 2009)
I was delighted to learn, recently, that a leaflet I produced for the Child Maintenance Options service has received a Clear English award from the Plain Language Commission. There is no doubt that parents who are going through divorce or separation need information that is easy to read and easy to act on. However, what [...]
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Families need support in tough times (Mon, 22 Jun 2009)
Last month, I came across an article in the Telegraph finance section headed Divorce: how to minimise costs in a recession. The piece focussed on how an economic recession can make an already bad situation worse and offered ten tips from Marilyn Stowe, one of Britain’s best known divorce lawyers, to help reduce the financial [...]
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When is a parent not a parent? (Thu, 28 May 2009)
I recently worked with a parent who was, in equal parts, angry and upset. Classed by the Child Support Agency as a ‘non resident parent’, they had received a letter that contained the following: We worked out your child maintenance assessment using the information you and the parent of the child(ren) gave us. Although you [...]
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Scandinavian countries show the way ahead (Thu, 14 May 2009)
I was fortunate enough to be working in the Czech capital, Prague, last week. I say ‘fortunate’ not just because Prague is one of the most beautiful and peaceful cities I’ve visited, but because of the people I was working with. Following the highly successful Putting Children First: best practice in support to separated families [...]
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Keeping prisoners and children connected (Mon, 13 Apr 2009)
When a parent is sent to prison, it is not only they who have their lives turned upside down. Whole families need to adjust to the circumstances and children very often lose an important influence in their lives. If the bond between an imprisoned parent and a child is not to be completely broken, it [...]
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