Failure in child payments in West Lindsey

More than two in five parents in West Lindsey who are required to pay their child maintenance through government intervention are still failing to pay their ex-partners. PA Wire/PA Images EMN-190211-110546001

The charity Gingerbread, which supports single-parent families, says payments can lift single-parent families out of poverty and it is “simply not acceptable” that more than 100,000 children nationally are not receiving maintenance.

New figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show 110 parents did not pay support due through the Child Maintenance Service’s Collect and Pay scheme in West Lindsey between April and June this year.

Overall, the Collect and Pay scheme, which is implemented by the CMS when the parents cannot arrange the payments between themselves, covered 260 parents and 370 children in West Lindsey.

The CMS is supposed to take money directly from these parents’ earnings or their bank account if they try to avoid payments, and can eventually take them to court.

Despite this, 42 per cent had not made any payment in West Lindsey.