More companies will be forced to hand over details of parents to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), as the body seeks more powers to track down debts .
The CMS is the government body that handles child maintenance payments if separated parents cannot reach a private agreement.
Today the CMS announced new powers to expand the list of firms and organisations that have to give it data if asked.
This will now include pension firms, the Motor Insurers’ Bureau and investment companies, as well as academy schools.
The CMS said this would help it "trace the paying parent, calculate maintenance and enforce arrears more effectively".
The organisation can already order current or former employers to hand over parents' information, as well as accountants.
At the moment, much of this information is gathered by a CMS inspector physically going to a company's offices.
The CMS said it is also making it easier for firms to send that information digitally.
The CMS is part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
DWP Lords minister Baroness Stedman-Scott said: "At the heart of these changes is our commitment to making sure children get the financial support they need to have the best start in life.
“We’re bringing the service into the modern age, removing barriers that can slow down cases and prevent money reaching children."
The CMS also wants to seek powers to write off accounts with small amounts of child maintenance debt, of £6.99 and under.
Last year the CMS wrote off £1.92billion in child support owed by absent parents.
Officials say some debts were too expensive to chase or computer systems could not cope.
It also wants the ability to write off arrears if they can no longer be recovered, for example if the employer of a paying parent has gone bust.
The CMS came under fire from MPs earlier this month as a report found decade-old child maintenance reform has not actually helped more children get cash.
Tory ministers reformed the system of payments between separated partners in 2012.
There is now more focus on asking parents to agree payments - usually from men to women - privately with no state involvement.
This was meant to improve take-up of child maintenance payments, getting kids more cash.
Yet there has been “no clear change in the overall number of effective child maintenance arrangements”, the National Audit Office (NAO) revealed.
There has in fact been “an increase in the number of parents with no child maintenance arrangement at all.”
Running the CMS cost the taxpayer £322million in 2020/1 - down £242million since 2011/12.
