The Department of Work and Pension has announced that an extra £20 million will be made available to support separated and separating families as part of the reforms to mend the broken child support system.

It will help families work out their own arrangements, rather than trapping them in the current outdated system, which has been shown to be expensive and divisive and does not put children first.

The £20m for family services will be dedicated to working with voluntary and community groups on streamlining existing support and looking at what additional help is needed.

A steering group of voluntary and community sector experts as well as academics have advised on how best this money should be used to coordinate existing organisations on the ground.

The group will continue to help define what is needed, which could include:

• A web service that will be able to provide on-line material and peer to peer forums as well as signposting parents to specialist websites and local support services in their area.
• Helpline support for separating parents who need information and contact details for specialist and local support services that could help them.
• Coordinated local services to offer help and support.