Inanna, i know that single mums have it tough. My mum was a single mum bringing up 3 kids on her own and dad never gave her a cent (that was the time before CSA existed) She had to work to pay for everything. So I know its an extremely difficult cirmustance to be in.
Its hard on everyone involved, including the kids because they do miss out on a lot.

But the thing with the CSA is that its based on the mans income as we all know. If he earns a low wage, then his CSA is going to be lower, not because the system is unfair, but because its trying to be fair on both parties. He still has to pay for his own rent and food bills. If his income is higher, the CSA will be higher. Im sure if all our ex's were high earners, we wouldnt feel the system was unfair.

I think the other thing that makes it harder on women is that they likely have not worked for a while, so when they divorce/separate they suddenly find that the bills and rent arnt being paid and this falls on her shoulders. Its all new to her because for so long he has paid for these things. So i can understand if women use the CSA money for those living expenses and I do myself sometimes, it perfectly ok to do so... but its not ok to use it on those things and not use it on the kids personal expenses. So there needs to be balance in how its used which sometimes is not easy.