What does parental responsibility mean?
As the father of a child you have a duty to maintain the child until it leaves school by paying a proportion of your income. This can be done inside the relationship or, if it breaks up, either through agreement with the child’s mother or through the Child Support Agency. This is your responsibility even if you weren’t in a long-term relationship with the mother when the child was conceived. If you are not married to the mother of your child, you won’t have automatic parental responsibility – even if you are living with the child’s mother.
