The USA operates a policy of jailing or confiscating an absent parent's driving licence if they refuse to pay maintenance.

Dan McDonald: Child Support Department can take away wages or imprison errant fathers

Dan McDonald, director of the Child Support Department in the state of Arkansas, says these are just two of a panoply of measures the government can take.

They include seizing a parent's property, including their house and belongings, docking wages and reporting arrears to credit bureaux agencies.

He said: "We can incarcerate people we pick up and find that they are determined not to pay child support or cannot pay.

In the US, non-payers may face jail

"It is one of the last resorts."

He added that another effective measure involved intercepting state and federal income tax returns.

The range of strategies comes into play after a parent is between six months and a year behind with maintenance payments.

"It is the only way we can get their attention and get them to pay," said Mr McDonald.

He added that the measures were not popular with non-payers, but had been well received by the general public.

But custodial parents were often critical when the department could not get their absent partner to pay.

In the US, parents can resort to both public and private agencies to collect maintenance money.

These can, for example, publish details of the arrears in the media or tell a third person, including the person's employer.

Docking wages

France also has tougher measures for tracking child maintenance than the UK.

French family lawyer Isabelle Nedellec-Verbier: French system can make employer give father's wages to mother

It has its own version of the Child Support Agency, but this has the power to make non-payers bankrupt or forced them to pay through the court system.

In addition, if the custodial parent has not received maintenance for two months or more, the employer of the absent parent can be sued.