Fife mum was asked to write off £18,000 owed to her children

MP hits out as he claims families are let down by ‘deeply flawed’ system

Demands that a mother write off almost £18,000 due to her children from their father has been highlighted as yet another failure of the child maintenance system.

The Fife woman, whose children are now grown up, was asked to forget the massive debt despite her ex-husband being forced to meet unpaid tax due to HM Revenue and Customs.

Glenrothes and Central Fife MP Peter Grant said the case was among many he had encountered in his constituency where families were let down by a “deeply flawed” system.

He said: “I have dealt with cases where absent parents have tried to hide their income and the Child Maintenance Service leave it to the resident parent to produce the evidence that their ex-partner is effectively committing fraud against them.

“They use simple dodges that wouldn’t succeed in hiding their money from HM Revenue and Customs; they shouldn’t be able to use these dodges to hide it from their own children.

“Too many people feel as though the CMS are not working with them but are an obstacle to them.

“And far too often people decide to give up on their pursuit of the money owed to their children as they can no longer take the stress.

“There have been improvements since the days of the discredited Child Support Agency but the system is still deeply flawed and all too often it works against the interests of the very children it’s supposed to be helping.”

Mr Grant highlighted the parent’s case during a debate he secured in Westminster on the performance of the CMS, which succeeded the CSA, in recovering payments from absent parents.

A Department of Work and Pensions spokeswoman said: “Our main focus is to collect money that’s owed to children who will benefit today.

“We have been very clear that this write-off process is a one-off and with tougher consequences in place for parents who fail to pay, we expect to collect around £1 billion in maintenance this year.

“Parents can ask us to review our decision and we will continue to pursue collection where there is a possibility of success and it is cost effective.”

New powers introduced for the CMS include removing people’s passports and taking assets into account, including property, savings, investments and selfdeclared income.

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Far too often people decide to give up on their pursuit of money owed to their children as they can no longer take the stress. PETER GRANT MP

MP Peter Grant says many families are badly let down by flaws in the Child Maintenance Service.