Electronic tags could be slapped on feckless parents who do not pay child maintenance. The move is part of a new crackdown currently being considered by the UK Government's Department for Work and Pensions.
If adopted, it would mean parents who persistently refuse to fulfil their financial obligations to their children face a lockdown-style curfew - and having their location monitored via the tag to stop them going out.
According to BirminghamLive, the DWP - which is responsible for monitoring child maintenance payments - is currently considering adopting new powers which would help it retrieve more of the money owed to children of separated parents.
The DWP's Child Maintenance Service collected or arranged £1 billion in child maintenance payments last year which it says is "a crucial weapon in the battle against child poverty". Child support payments help lift around 140,000 children out of poverty each year, it said.
The DWP said: "Curfew orders would be another method of enforcement, alongside current powers which include passport and driving licence confiscation and earnings deduction orders, to tackle parents who continually refuse to pay maintenance owed.
"As an alternative sanction to prison, which is costly and prevents maintenance getting to children, curfews would act as a deterrent by restricting and disrupting non-compliant parents' lifestyles, stopping them, for example, from going out for dinner, to the pub or going on holiday."
The curfews would be controlled by a tag similar to those put on prisoners to check their whereabouts and movements. An electronic monitoring service would apply the tag, keep track of it and make sure the individual sticks to the rules. If the offending parents fail to comply, the CMS would be able to refer them back to court which might then extend the curfew order or impose a prison sentence.
DWP Lords Minister Baroness Stedman-Scott said: "For children in low-income households, maintenance payments can make all the difference, lifting them out of poverty. We are not afraid to go after those parents who deliberately and repeatedly refuse to pay for their children.
"Curfew orders are another step towards providing the CMS with a full arsenal of powers to make sure children get the financial support they need to have the best start in life."
These curfew orders will take account of each individual's circumstances, the DWP explained. This measure will only apply to parents living in England, Scotland or Wales - as with the current powers of driving licence/passport disqualification and imprisonment. Curfew orders will be added to the enforcement powers of the Child Maintenance Service subject to parliamentary approval.
