This book assesses the 1991 Child Support Act and demonstrates how its failure was
'foreseeable' and 'foreseen'. It provides an understanding of the creation and failure of the
Act as well as providing an examination of the British policy-making process. The book
re-introduces the 'stages approach' as an appropriate framework for examining policy-making in
general and analysing policy failure in particular. It draws on evidence gained through
interviews official documents unpublished consultation responses Parliamentary debates and
materials from pressure groups and think-tanks as well as academic literature. The 1991 Child
Support Act is seen as one of the most controversial and notorious policy failures in Britain.
However it has received relatively little academic attention. An in-depth analysis of the
policy-making process that led to the development and passage of this deeply flawed policy has
largely been neglected: this book fills that gap.
