Torbay Suffering from Child Maintenance Debt

By ptics | Friday, July 23, 2010, 09:40

Recently revealed figures have highlighted that Torbay is in the top fifth of constituencies for unpaid child maintenance debt.

Information collected by Gingerbread, the single parent family charity, showed that there was £7,401,000 of arrears owed to parents in Torbay. The late payments threaten hundreds of Torbay families with poverty and stem from the failures of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC), which has been charged with collecting arrears but has consistently failed to meet its targets for collecting money from absent parents.

Nationally almost £4billion is owed by absent parents.

Adrian Sanders and the Liberal Democrats are proposing the scrapping of CMEC, transferring responsibility to Revenue and Customs so that absent parents tax records can be matched to their cases. For those who do not pay regular maintenance, arrears can then be automatically deducted via the tax system.

Adrian said: “Sadly so many families have been let down by the Child Maintenance system created under the previous Government. Government agencies have let down so many families and have failed to pursue cases where even the smallest difficulties arise.”

Adrian is urging any parents with problems with the Child Maintenance System to contact his office on 01803 200036 as well as consulting the Gingerbread hotline on 0808 802 0925.