Letter: Child support must avoid 'formula fetishism'

Sir: Congratulations on your leader on the Child Support Act. The financial circumstances of divorces are as various as divorces themselves, and to suppose one formula can fit them all is formula fetishism. If there is to be a formula, it must allow an element of discretion. If this point is not conceded, the whole notion of a formula will have to be abandoned.

While the Government was making a statement on this subject, it should have commented on your story (20 December) that more than 11,000 lone parents have given up claiming Income Support to avoid involvement with the Child Support Agency. What has happened to these people?

Yours sincerely,

RUSSELL

House of Lords

London, SW1