Some children could be PENSIONERS by the time their parents finally pay off a “rump” of child maintenance debt, MPs heard today.
Around 69,000 parents still owe their partners money dating back to the Child Support Agency - which was replaced with a new system from 2012.
All but £310m of the old debt was written off in an amnesty. But Joshua Reddaway of the National Audit Office (NAO) told MPs the “rump” that is left will be “collected for a very very long time.”
He told the Commons Work and Pensions Committee the issue had caused “quite a lot of anger and pain”.
Because many parents are on low incomes, an estimated 59% will take more than 10 years to fully repay - and 39% will take more than 20 years.
He said: “The half that is in payment, some of it could take decades.
“I’m afraid it’s quite possible that some of those children will be collecting their state pension… Possibly not, but certainly some of them are my age, 42.”
Unpaid debts across the entire Child Maintenance Service hit a staggering £493million in June and are rising by £1m a week, hitting £1bn by 2031.
That means 8% of all the child maintenance ever demanded in the 10-year history of the scheme is currently unpaid.
The CMS faces anger on multiple fronts at the same time.
Single parents’ charity Gingerbread says the rate of enforcement is a “disgrace”. But elsewhere parents have also hit out at the CMS - saying it has hiked their arrears and monthly repayments by up to 300% with no explanation.
These parents - both men and women - say CMS mistakes have driven them as far as poverty and homelessness. Some have even taken their own lives.
Mr Reddaway told the committee it was “not a broken organisation” but “they have dreadful - they have problems and their customers are not happy.”
He added: “They have a long way to go and we would expect them to be making these improvements.”
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) insisted enforcement includes seizing goods, forcing property sales or removing passports.
Victoria Benson, chief executive of Gingerbread, told the Mirror: “The number of people who have applied to the CMS has hone up by a huge whack because they really need the money now during the cost of living crisis.
“It is a matter of principle for a lot of parents. Their child is legally entitled to maintenance from their parents. It’s very, very stressful.”
Arrears can be written off if the partner receiving them dies, or says they no longer need the money.
Gingerbread has claimed 60% of single parents’ kids in poverty could be lifted out of it if their child maintenance was paid in full.
But Mr Reddaway said he had seen “no proposals, ambition, plans or anything realistic” to achieve that and “it is never going to be 100% effective.”
Ms Benson said that was “absolutely a cop out”, adding: “The current arrears are just dreadful.
“I don’t think a private company would be allowed to exist if it was failing on that level.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “The Child Maintenance Service is significantly better than its predecessor and last year collected and arranged a record £1 billion for children of separated parents, including historic Child Support Agency debts.
“We rightly focus our resources on helping children of today, but after exhausting all options we will make one last attempt to collect historical debt where it’s cost effective, parents want us to and there’s a possibility of success.
“We only take the difficult decision to write off if those tests are not met.”
