A Comparison of Child Support Schemes in Selected Countries 

History and Context

In Norway, parents have an explicit duty to maintain and educate their chidren according to the child’s ability and aptitude and their own financial circumstances, unless the child itself is possessed of the necessary means. Both parents have an obligation to contribute what is necessary, each according to his or her ability. Where one or both of the parents do not live with the child, fixed contributions to maintenance and education are payable. It is the child who has the right to this contribution, though, in practice, it is usually paid to the resident parent.

While parents retain this legal duty, they receive substantial financial help from government. Levels of general government assistance to families are somewhat higher than in Australia, with a universal child benefit (like FTB) paid at the rate of about NOK970/month/child (NOK1=~A$0.20), more public daycare for young children and a 64% rebate on childcare costs, and/or an additional cash benefit paid for each child between the ages of 1 and 3, as well as paid parental leave to cover the first year of the child’s life and other benefits. Lone parents receive additional cash benefit as though they had one extra child (for example, a sole parent with two children receives the amount that a partnered parent would for three children). Low-to-middle-income lone parents are also eligible for "advance maintenance", a payment (of about A$240/month in 2004) guaranteed by the government where payers have a poor history of payment; this advance payment is then recouped from child support actually paid. The advance maintenance amount is also still available to the resident parent even if the father is unknown. While there is no dedicated lone-parent income support payment, lone parents are generally eligible for benefits that are worth almost twice the Australian Parenting Payment Single amount, at least until their children are eligible for school or kindergarten. Some of these benefits are "clawed back" from child support paid above the level of advance maintenance, and parents receiving them are obliged to use the state collection agency. Approximately 70% of lone parents in Norway are in paid employment.

Basis of scheme

Since 2003, liabilities have been assessed on an income shares, cost of children model, based on a family with a "reasonable" standard of living. The costs of children used are "standard" costs, as calculated by the National Institute for Consumer Research (SIFO), rather than varying according to family income. (It should be noted that this is a more reasonable approach in Norway than it would be in Australia, due to the social structure of the countries.) Costs are calculated on the basis of consumption expenses, living expenses, and any costs of child care. Child Benefit payments received by the parent are deducted from the gross costs, and the net cost is divided between the parents. The assessed costs of children increase with the age of the child and are divided into three age groups (0-5 years, 6-10 years and 11 years and over).

The parents may make their own agreement regarding maintenance contributions to the child, but there are provisions to ensure that amounts are not so low as to have a negative impact upon child well-being.

There is no minimum liability. A maximum of 25% of income can be imposed as a liability, but parents can agree to more if they wish. This limit is intended to ensure that sufficient support is available to any children that the payer may have in a new family.

Liability is reduced to take account of contact, according to how many days per month the child spends with the payer, by brackets of 2-3, 4-8, 9-13, and 14-15 nights per month.

Outcomes

The provision of advance maintenance, in addition to other child benefits, to those children most at risk being left with inadequate income is a contributing factor to the very low level of child poverty in Norway – Unicef estimated it to be around 4% in 2000.

In addition, rates of parent-child contact in Norway are very high – 85–90% of children have seen their non-resident parent in the last year, and 70–75% have had contact in the last month. It also appears that the majority of non-resident parents spend more time with their children than is stipulated in contact orders/arrangements. It is not possible to ascribe this high level of contact to the child support scheme in isolation, but the simplicity and apparent fairness of the scheme may be a factor, as may as the high level of government support, as both could be expected to reduce parental conflict. The majority of parents report satisfaction with their contact arrangments.

Because the new scheme was only introduced in late 2003, statistics on amounts being transferred are not yet available.

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