Website to 'shame' absent parents
Ministers are planning to publish on the internet the names of absent parents who refuse to pay maintenance for their children.
The move, aimed at shaming parents into paying up what they owe, has already been tried in the US.
It is due to be among measures in a White Paper later this week outlining reforms to the maintenance system.
Critics say the new measures could cause hostility between partners at a difficult time in their relationship.
The White Paper will include details of the smaller body which is to replace the troubled Child Support Agency, which has been dogged by problems and is owed £3.5bn.
It will also list new enforcement powers aimed at the 30% of absent parents the agency been unable to track down.
The website could be up and running within months as legislation is not needed to get it online.
Other proposals are expected to include removing passports from absent parents who do not pay up, and imposing curfews and electronic tagging.
Nick Woodall of the Centre for Separated Families, a support group for families going through separation, said the government "unwittingly contributed" to conflict between parents.
He told BBC Radio Five Live: "It seems like it's just another attempt by the government to sound tough on parents, when really what it should be doing is creating services to help them."
'Incredibly angry'
But Janet Allbeson from the charity One Parent Families said lone parents were desperate for the government to "put some welly" into the collection of unpaid maintenance.
"We talk to lone parents all the time and they are desperate for the (Child Support Agency) to really take strong action against non-resident parents, to make sure they pay.
"And they're incredibly angry that people who don't pay child support, really, they've been treated a bit too lightly."
On Saturday it emerged that the CSA had been increasingly using private companies to collect unpaid money, which had so far enabled it to recover about £320,000 which it would not otherwise have recovered.
However, some campaigners fear that more than £1bn owed to parents will be written off when the agency is replaced.
The move, aimed at shaming parents into paying up what they owe, has already been tried in the US.
It is due to be among measures in a White Paper later this week outlining reforms to the maintenance system.
Critics say the new measures could cause hostility between partners at a difficult time in their relationship.
The White Paper will include details of the smaller body which is to replace the troubled Child Support Agency, which has been dogged by problems and is owed £3.5bn.
It will also list new enforcement powers aimed at the 30% of absent parents the agency been unable to track down.
The website could be up and running within months as legislation is not needed to get it online.
Other proposals are expected to include removing passports from absent parents who do not pay up, and imposing curfews and electronic tagging.
Nick Woodall of the Centre for Separated Families, a support group for families going through separation, said the government "unwittingly contributed" to conflict between parents.
He told BBC Radio Five Live: "It seems like it's just another attempt by the government to sound tough on parents, when really what it should be doing is creating services to help them."
'Incredibly angry'
But Janet Allbeson from the charity One Parent Families said lone parents were desperate for the government to "put some welly" into the collection of unpaid maintenance.
"We talk to lone parents all the time and they are desperate for the (Child Support Agency) to really take strong action against non-resident parents, to make sure they pay.
"And they're incredibly angry that people who don't pay child support, really, they've been treated a bit too lightly."
On Saturday it emerged that the CSA had been increasingly using private companies to collect unpaid money, which had so far enabled it to recover about £320,000 which it would not otherwise have recovered.
However, some campaigners fear that more than £1bn owed to parents will be written off when the agency is replaced.
posted by Robert at 11:59 am
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