£7m owed by absent parents

ABSENT parents in Oldham owe almost £7million to their children in support payments, new figures have revealed.

According to Government figures, absent mothers or fathers in Oldham East and Saddleworth owe £3.66 million, with Oldham West and Royton parents owing £3.04 million in payments for their offspring — a total of £6.71 million.

The figures, correct as of June this year, show the huge problem ministers face getting parents to pay up.

The debt at the same time in June last year stood at £5.58 million across Oldham.

The figures undermine claims by ministers that they are getting a grip over the chaotic child support system.

Nationally about £4 billion is owed.

And it brings home the scale of the challenge faced by the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, the successor to the much-criticised Child Support Agency (CSA).

The commission, which replaced the CSA last month, has more powers to try to enforce maintenance payments, including asking courts to withdraw passports.

It believes about £2 billion can be recovered — meaning if the split was reflected in all areas of the country, only half of the debt would be paid to Oldham’s children.

A Government spokesperson said: “Child maintenance debt is owed by non-resident parents as a result of their failure to meet their financial responsibilities towards their children, and is the cumulative total of the agency’s 15 years of operation.

“Nationally, in the 12 months to June, 2008, it is estimated the increase in child maintenance debt was less than 3 per cent.

“The CSA collected and arranged over £7.5 billion in child maintenance over its 15-year life, with over £1 billion collected in the last year alone.”

MPs have been critical of the CSA for years, with the powerful Commons public accounts committee branding it one of the greatest public administration disasters of recent times after a new IT system caused havoc and created a huge backlog.