Parents who refuse to pay child maintenance could face curfews,
as Ministers plan new powers for the Child Maintenance Service.
The change is being considered as part of fresh proposals that
will get more of the money that is owed to the children of
separated parents.
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) collected or arranged £1
billion in child maintenance payments last year, operating as a
crucial weapon in the battle against child poverty. Child support
payments help lift around 140,000 children out of poverty each
year.
Curfew orders would be another method of enforcement, alongside
current powers which include passport and driving license
confiscation and earnings deduction orders, to tackle parents who
continually refuse to pay maintenance owed.
As an alternative sanction to prison, which is costly and
prevents maintenance getting to children, curfews would act as a
deterrent by restricting and disrupting non-compliant parents’
lifestyles, stopping them, for example, from going out for
dinner, to the pub or going on holiday.
The curfews would be monitored by an electronic tag with an
electronic monitoring service applying the tag, monitoring and
making sure the parent complies with the rules of the tag. If
parents fail to comply, the CMS would be able refer them back to
court which might then extend the curfew order or impose a prison
sentence.
DWP Lords Minister said:
For children in low-income households, maintenance payments can
make all the difference, lifting them out of poverty.
We are not afraid to go after those parents who deliberately and
repeatedly refuse to pay for their children.
Curfew orders are another step towards providing the CMS with a
full arsenal of powers to make sure children get the financial
support they need to have the best start in life.
This builds on a new powers introduced
earlier this year to digitise all communications to
parents and improvements to help the service trace the paying
parent, calculate maintenance and enforce arrears more
effectively.
The consultation is published here and closes
on 12 August 2022.
Further information
- The Child Maintenance Service was established in 2012 to
replace the old Child Support Agency, to increase levels of
cooperation between separated parents and encourage parents to
meet their responsibilities to provide their children with the
financial support they need to secure better outcomes in life.
- [Get help arranging child maintenance]
(https://child-maintenance.service.gov.uk/get-help-arranging-child-maintenance/)
is a new digital service that helps parents decide what type of
child maintenance arrangement is right for them and their
circumstances.
- Curfew orders will take account of each individual’s
circumstances.
- This power will only apply to paying parents living in
England, Scotland, or Wales as with our current powers of driving
licence and passport disqualification and commitment to prison.
- The consultation period begins on 9 July 2022 and runs until
12 August 2022.
- Curfew orders will be added to the enforcement powers of the
CMS subject to parliamentary approval.
