Family benefits paid to mothers more likely to be spent on children, says study

Research based on a series of in-depth interviews with couples receiving either Income Support or Family Credit found that the way income was managed and controlled within families was affected by which parent the money was paid to as well as where it came from and the amount. Income was not equally distributed among many couples, and mothers were more likely than fathers to lose out.

Both fathers and mothers saw it as the woman's responsibility to ensure that their children were being fed and clothed. But women also tended to take responsibility for restraining how much they or their partners spent, so that the children did not go without.

Men in the study gave a higher priority to spending money on themselves than women and were less able to think of occasions when they had sacrificed spending to help the family as a whole. Even small amounts spent on themselves appeared important to their sense of well-being. By contrast, women found it difficult to spend money on themselves whether it was from their partner's wages or from Income Support or the Jobseekers' Allowance.

In two-thirds of the 31 households studied, mothers managed the day-to-day finances but fathers had control of the way that money was initially allocated in half the families.

The study, which has important implications for the Government's welfare reform programme, including introduction of a Working Families Tax Credit, found that household income tended to be less equally shared if:

• Income Support / Jobseekers' Allowance was being paid to men;
• men were receiving informal "cash in hand" payments and using commercial credit;
• young mothers deferred to older male partners. 

Families where financial control was more equally shared were those where:

• men recognised that breadwinning could be a joint activity;
• women had experience of receiving direct benefit payments,including Family Credit;
• women received a high proportion of the family's total income. 

Researchers from Loughborough University and the Policy Studies Institute found both men and women considered that wages gave the earner a bigger entitlement to spend them than the non-earner. However, Family Credit - paid to supplement low pay - was usually controlled by women who valued it highly as a guaranteed weekly contribution to the family budget. Child Benefit was also earmarked for spending on children and collective household items.

Where families received Income Support or the Jobseekers' Allowance, it was usual for the man to both claim and cash the benefit cheque. This regularly allowed him to access a fixed, weekly amount of personal spending money. Men who controlled the finances in households receiving Family Credit tended to access less regular, but larger amounts of money to spend on themselves.

Benefit payment methods. Most couples opposed the suggestion that Income Support and Jobseekers' Allowance should be split and paid equally to both partners. There was some acknowledgement that it could place money in the hands of severely disadvantaged mothers, but there were also fears that men might treat the whole of their share as personal spending money.

However, men and women were equally opposed to having Family Credit paid through the pay packet. Women were concerned that they might lose a source of income that was separate from their partner's wages. Men were distrustful of employers.

Ruth Lister, Professor of Social Policy at Loughborough and co-author of the report, said: "Money paid directly to mothers is more likely to be used to meet family needs. This means there is a serious risk that introduction of a Working Families Tax Credit could reduce the amount of money reaching children.

"The Government's decision to let couples choose between receiving tax credits through the wage packet or as a cash benefit goes some way to meeting these concerns - as does the Child Benefit increase announced in last month's Budget. Even so, it may be difficult for some mothers to exercise choice and challenge a presumption that this is money to top up their partner's wages. That is why it is important that the payment alternatives for Working Families Tax Credit are publicised in ways that emphasise its importance as money to benefit children and the family as whole."