Foreign holiday ban on dads who skip child maintenance
aBseNT parents who refuse to pay towards their children’s care face being banned from taking foreign holidays.
New rules mean ‘deadbeat dads’ who dodge child maintenance payments could have their passports confiscated.
They could also be banned from going out at night under curfew orders in which they would have to wear an electronic tag. Other new powers allow the Government to confiscate cash from a cheat’s joint bank account, meaning second wives could have to contribute to their husband’s first family.
The tough measures are key weapons in ‘persuading’ absent fathers or mothers to meet the costs of their children.
Justin Tomlinson, minister for family support, said: ‘While most parents pay their child maintenance on time, these new measures will act as a strong deterrent for those who try to avoid their commitments. These regulations send the message that if you don’t pay, we can take your passport away.
‘We already have the power to take driving licences, but this can sometimes impact on somebody’s ability to work and, of course, parents need to work so they can pay the maintenance. We believe that stopping people being able to take foreign holidays will be a more effective measure.’
Other regulations approved by ministers allow the newly-named Child Maintenance service to raid a wider range of bank accounts, including joint and business holdings. assets may also be taken into account ‘where parents use com- plicated financial arrangements to evade their child maintenance responsibilities’, said the Department for Work and Pensions.
under previous rules, deductions to recover unpaid child maintenance could only be made from an account held solely in the absent parent’s name. Officials say some parents had been ‘cheating their way out of supporting their children’ by putting money in a joint account with a partner.
Campaigners from the group Families Need Fathers said the new rule amounted to ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’, warning it was a ‘blunt instrument’ that could have unintended consequences, such as putting off couples from opening joint bank accounts.
a DWP spokesman said: ‘Wherever possible, we support separated parents to work together and set up their own family-based child maintenance arrangements.
‘These allow families to create flexible arrangements that work for their individual circumstances.’
‘Act as a strong deterrent’