The Making of the Child Support Act of 1991: Policy Making at the Intersection of Law and Social Policy

Abstract

The legislative process has not traditionally been a central concern of sociolegal scholars, but has remained within the territory of political science. This paper argues that sociologists of law have an important contribution to make to developing the sociology of the legislative process, and that an understanding of legal processes and ways of thinking could enrich the study of public policy from the development of a new policy idea, through the strategy for preparation and, finally, the parliamentary management of a new statute. The child support legislation of 1991 is taken as a example of this process, and is of particular interest because it lies at the intersection of legal and social policy concerns. The Child Support Act removed responsibility for the assessment and enforcement of financial support for children by absent parents from its traditional place within the court system and placed it in an administrative agency closely linked to the Department of Social Security. The laudable aim of strengthening parental responsibility has gone almost unmentioned, and the new system has been widely criticized in the press, leading to protest marches being banned in central London, and even accusations of its contributing to acts of suicide. This paper addresses the question of how the legislation developed, and how some of the differences between legal and social welfare approaches contributed to subsequent criticism of a scheme widely accepted in broad principle but often unacceptable in individual cases. In 1990 divorce, alimony, property settlements, and support for children in the United Kingdom were the province of solicitors, barristers, and judges with perhaps occasional advice from accountants. By the time of writing, four years later, the Lord Chancellor's Department has published a Green Paper, entitled Looking to the Future,1 which takes forward the Law Commission's proposals2 to move to divorce on application over a period of time, to sever the link between lawyers and divorce, and to offer advice and information to couples approaching divorce with the aim of enabling them to manage their own affairs. In cases where a dispute arises about financial