Unpaid child support 'at £1.8bn'

Many lone parents rely on child support maintenance payments

Unpaid child support worth £1.8bn will probably never be recovered, a government official has suggested.

Absent parents owe an estimated £3.8bn in child maintenance payments, of which £2bn is thought to be recoverable.

But the remaining sum will most likely never be paid, a spokesman for the new Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission has said.

That body replaces the Child Support Agency (CSA) on 1 November, and will have tougher enforcement powers.

"We've made a lot of progress in identifying people and tracking them down, but there will always be a number of people who will be able to evade the system," the spokesman said.

"The commission will use its powers to the full to ensure that parents do not evade their responsibilities."

New powers

Child support payments are claimed directly from absent fathers or mothers, and are often a key additional source of income for lone parents.

Currently, the CSA collects £36m in maintenance payment arrears each month.

About 68% of money claimed by parents is successfully paid.

The Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission will have new powers which mean its staff will not have to go to court in order to take action against parents who fail to make payments.

The new body it will replace, the CSA, has been criticised for failing to take enough action against parents who do not pay maintenance.

The CSA was thrown into disarray in 2003 after a new multi-million computer system created a huge backlog in its operations.