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Government plans to tighten penalties for non-payment of child maintenance
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has begun a consultation on the introduction of fast-track penalties for parents who fail to pay child maintenance.
If introduced, the new enforcement measures could be up to four times faster than current arrangements. This would be achieved via civil liability orders requiring the repayment of a specified debt via the seizure of property if necessary. Currently the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) must apply to the courts when chasing child maintenance debts, a slow process that can take over five months. By contrast, a liability order could reduce this wait to two months or less.
A £20 application fee for parents seeking help from the CMS is also set to be removed to help make the service accessible to even the poorest families. Meanwhile, unearned income (such as investment dividends) will now be included in liability calculations, and passports and driving licences will become subject to confiscation.
The changes, expected to affect around 10,000 non-paying parents per year, will be enabled by the Child Support (Enforcement) Act, which came into force in July 2023 after a Private Members’ Bill received cross-party support.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride explained:
“Parents need to take financial responsibility for their children. It’s completely unfair that it can take so long to get children support they are due. I am determined to go after those parents who are refusing to pay up when we know they can. Child maintenance makes a real difference to the life chances of many thousands of children. The CMS can and does enforce compliance, but we want to enable it to act much faster.”
Viscount Younger of Leckie is Minister for the DWP. He added:
“These new powers will improve how the Child Maintenance Service supports children of separated parents, helping families receive child maintenance faster and preventing further arrears.”
Adam Moghadas, one of the partners here at Cambridge Family Law Practice comments “The Child Maintenance Service, its predecessors and its associated regulations are not necessarily known for being user friendly by those who need their help the most – usually the parent with the bulk of the caring responsibilities for a child, and therefore often the parent with the biggest financial burden upon them for that child. These changes will hopefully strengthen the position of those parents, making the system fairer overall.”