The problem of getting a non-resident parent to pay their fair share of child maintenance comes up regularly in my advice surgeries.

I’ve seen how it can add to the pressure and stress of raising a family single-handed and can mean that a child misses out on opportunities in a way that’s completely avoidable. In the words of one constituent: “The system is so unfair and pushes these children into unnecessary poverty when the non-resident parent refuses to pay.” Another constituent described the withholding of maintenance payments as a form of abuse and an extension of the controlling behaviour that she hoped she’d escaped.

While I’ve heard complaints about the system from both women and men, from those due to pay and those due to receive payment, my overall impression from constituency casework is that the most pressing issue with the Child Support Agency and the Child Maintenance Service is the way in which some non-resident parents, self-employed people in particular, seek to minimise or avoid paying child maintenance. Arising from that, and working with the single parent charity Gingerbread, I’ve put a number of questions to the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) to get the latest information and to find out more about the ways in which this avoidance is investigated. A list of the questions can be found here.

The answers from DWP Minister Priti Patel (these can be found here too) do not inspire much confidence in the Government’s commitment to investigating maintenance avoidance. For example, I was shocked to hear that just 33 full-time staff are employed in the Child Maintenance Group’s Financial Investigations Unit in order to cover a nationwide caseload that has implications for tens of thousands of children.

I’ve now written to Frank Field, Chair of the Work & Pensions Committee, supporting a call by Gingerbread for an inquiry on child maintenance (Letter to Frank Field, re CMS, ML.N0107.RD_.07.04.16.pdf). I want the committee to investigate whether the new child maintenance calculation properly captures non-resident parents’ income and leads to affordable but fair amounts being paid.

Please do get in touch if you are a constituent affected by these issues and would like to share your experience and/or receive occasional updates on my work on child maintenance.