‘Cruel’ child maintenance service charges earned Government £11.2 million
Charges for people to use child maintenance services have been dubbed “cruel and callous” after it emerged they had earned the Government more than £11 million.
SNP MP Angela Crawley also called the charges unfair in the wake of the figures, which include little more than £100,000 from extra enforcement action on non-paying parents.
Three separate charges were brought in during the summer of 2014, including charging parents who use the service to process payments.
But this has prompted criticism about the impact on those who have suffered domestic violence.
Ms Crawley (pictured) said survivors may feel they have no option but to use the service, with fears giving their abuser personal bank details will allow them to access other personal information.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says the charges make up a fraction of the cost of running the service, and encourage parents to consider their options.
But Ms Crawley, the SNP’s spokeswoman for children, women and equalities, said: “It is near impossible for women who have escaped abuse to share details with an ex-partner.
“These unfair charges will disproportionately impact survivors of domestic abuse, who feel they have no option but to use the service as they are too frightened to have a direct link to their abuser.
“I am very concerned that this is a cruel and callous tax on child support and that ultimately it is the children who will lose out on money intended to support them.
“It is the responsibility of the UK Government to do everything in its power to protect children from falling into poverty.”
The three charges are a £20 application fee for using the service in the first place, enforcement charges for non-payment, and collection charges for using the “collect and pay” service, for those who get the service to administer the payments.
A written parliamentary question from SNP MP Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West) show the Government has received £11.2 million, since the charges were introduced in June 2014 until March 2016.
Collect and pay services account for £8.6 million of this, with £2.5 million coming from application fees and just £140,000 from enforcement.
The money made from services has been increasing every month since they were launched.
In March, the latest month for which figures are available, the services brought in around £950,000, including £650,000 from collect and pay.
Under collect and pay, paying parents must pay a 20% collection fee on top of their usual child maintenance amount.
Receiving parents must pay a 4% collection fee which is deducted from their payment.
MPs and campaigners say the charges disproportionately hit those fleeing domestic violence, and discourage poorer parents from using the services altogether.
Advisers can waive the application fee for domestic violence victims, with around a third of applicants having the exemption applied.
However, no such exemption exists for the collection services.
A DWP spokesman said: “The child maintenance service continues to be largely paid for by the Government. Charges make a very modest contribution to the costs involved.
“We encourage parents to pause and consider the different options available before applying to the service by default.
“We also actively pursue those parents who fail to meet their financial responsibilities and in nine out of 10 of cases, parents are paying towards the money owed.”
Running child maintenance services costs the Government around £230 million a year.
More than £3.5 billion in arrears is outstanding from child maintenance payments, according to the latest Government statistics.
Government has the power to refer those who fail to pay their maintenance support to credit reference agencies, but has not yet referred anyone more than 18 months after the legislation was introduced.
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