An assessment of proposed changes to the child support formula

Abstract

It is important that children are raised free from poverty and with full support from their families/whānau. However, many children spend some or all of their childhood with their parents living apart. Policies aim to limit the harm this might do, with one important but controversial aspect being child support. As part of a review of the New Zealand child support scheme, a consultation document was released in September 2010 (Dunne, 2010), building in part on a paper by researchers in the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) on the costs of children (Claus et al., 2009). This assessment paper backgrounds the current child support situation and consultation. It then considers aspects of the consultation, namely: (1) the estimation of costs of children, (2) the resulting proposed child support formula, and (3) broader issues related to child support.