Parents in Daventry failing to pay child maintenance to ex-partners

Newly released figures from the Department of Work and Pensions show that around 150 parents were due to pay support through the Child Maintenance Service in Daventry between April and June 2018.

Of them, 37 per cent had their payments in arrears - up from 37 per cent in the first quarter of 2018.

The charity for single-parent families, Gingerbread, said the rate of non-compliance is “worryingly high”.

The Government payment service, Collect & Pay, is part of the Child Maintenance Service, which was set up in 2012 to replace the Child Support Agency.

The CMS can take money from a parent’s earnings or their bank account if they try to avoid payments, or take a parent to court.

They can also calculate the amount of child support to be paid and parents can make the arrangements themselves - a scheme called Direct Pay.

In Daventry, 350 parents made Direct Pay arrangements from July to September 2018.