Tougher child maintenance sanctions for parents who fail to pay

New regulations are being introduced to impose tougher child maintenance sanctions sanctions on parents who fail to pay child maintenance.

Joanne Grey Associate Solicitor in our family law team provides an update.

The government says the Child Support (Enforcement) Act will see families paid faster as it gives the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) the power to use a liability order to reclaim unpaid child maintenance instead of applying to court and waiting up to 20 weeks.

The DWP will be able to impose tougher sanctions on non-paying parents – such as forcing the sale of property and taking away passports and driving licences – through a quick and simple administrative process.

This time and money-saving change will allow the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to act swiftly, paying families faster and preventing further arrears.

DWP Minister Viscount Younger of Leckie said: “This is another step in our work to strengthen our powers and improve how the Child Maintenance Service supports children of separated parents.

“We want parents to collaborate where at all possible, but if the financial responsibilities to children are not being met, the CMS will help those in need.

“This new law will help speed up the enforcement process to get money flowing which ultimately will be for the benefit of children.”

Before escalating to this tougher enforcement action, the CMS has other options including collecting earnings direct from parents’ employers or different bank accounts.

Cases involving complex income or suspected fraudulent behaviour can be looked into by the CMS Financial Investigation Unit. For example, to recalculate and collect payments where parents might be declaring lower incomes but have money flowing elsewhere – like excessive pension contributions or company dividends.

The CMS helps more than 900,000 children get the financial support they are entitled to and in the 12 months to March, collected or arranged a record £1.2 billion on their behalf.

If you would like more information about the issues raised in this article or any aspect of family law please contact Joanne on 01434 320362 or click here to send her an email.