More than 30% of parents who have their child maintenance payments controlled by the Government in the Isle of Wight are failing to pay their ex-partners.
Newly released figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show that around 290 parents were due to pay support through the Child Maintenance Service in the Isle of Wight between April and June 2018, but 34.5% of them had their payments in arrears.
Payments in arrears is down
The proportion of parents with payments in arrears in the Isle of Wight is down from 39.2% in the first quarter of 2018.
The charity for single-parent families Gingerbread said the rate of noncompliance in Britain, about 38% of the total, is “worryingly high”.
Collect & Pay scheme
This payment service, called Collect & Pay, is part of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), which was set up in 2012 to replace the Child Support Agency.
The CMS can take money from a parent’s earnings or their bank account if they try to avoid payments, or take a parent to court.
National picture
At the start of this year, the best performance was in the Orkney Islands, in Scotland, where only 22.7% of parents failed to pay.
The poorest record was in Tandridge, the South East, where 51.7% of parents did not meet their obligations to their children.
Direct Pay scheme
The Child Maintenance Service can also calculate the amount of child support to be paid and parents can make the arrangements themselves without the direct control of the Government – a mechanism called Direct Pay.
On the Isle of Wight, 520 parents made Direct Pay arrangements from April to June 2018.
At the end of June 2018, three quarters of paying parents in the CMS in Britain were using Direct Pay and a quarter the Collect & Pay Service.
Government must ‘get to grips with arrears’
Sumi Rabindrakumar, Research Officer at Gingerbread, said:
“These figures show that the Government still needs to get to grips with unpaid child maintenance. Time and time again, parents come to Gingerbread frustrated by CMS inaction.
“This is not just about introducing more powers. The CMS must deal with cases more promptly and make better use of existing powers. With over £200 million in unpaid maintenance, the Government risks repeating the same mistakes as the old Child Support Agency. Without reform, too many children will continue to go without the support they deserve.”
Article shared by Data Reporter as part of OnTheWight’s collaboration with Press Association and Urbs Media
