Submitted by Robert Jones on Friday 28th November 2025
Published on Monday 12th January 2026
Current status: Open
Open until: Sunday 12th July 2026
Current Signatures: 516
(count is updated approximately hourly)
Relevant Departments
Tagged with
Access ~ Benefits ~ Child ~ Child maintenance ~ childcare ~ childcare costs ~ Children ~ Counting ~ Ensure ~ Fairness ~ Fairs ~ household income ~ Maternity ~ Partner ~ paying ~ Payment ~ Reviewed ~ testing ~ The Universal ~ Universal Credit ~ Universities
Include Child Maintenance as Income in Universal Credit and Means-Tested Benefit
Child maintenance payment is not counted as income for Universal Credit, allowing some to receive maintenance payments and benefits. At the same time, paying parents must meet their obligations even where those payments reduce their overall household income below the Universal Credit threshold.
We believe this creates an imbalance between households. Receiving parents may access both maintenance and benefits, while paying parents, including those with for example new children, high childcare costs, or a partner on maternity leave, can be left with little to live on and no entitlement to Universal Credit. We ask the Government to review this policy and ensure fair and consistent treatment, either by counting child maintenance as income for means-tested benefits or by allowing paying parents whose income falls below thresholds after maintenance is paid to access support.
If you want to sign this petition (as opposed to merely discuss it), you need to do that on the government's e-Petitions website.
216.73.216.231 Thu, 25 Jun 2026 05:40:31 +0100
