Cost of living crisis: 155,000 children in Britain lacking out on child maintenance payments
A "lax" baby maintenance service has left nearly 155,000 kids financially unsupported because the value of living crisis grips Britain, with nearly 100,000 mother and father falling into arrears with bills.
More than a third of parents because of pay cash to government baby maintenance collectors had been paying absolutely not anything at all at the last count.
The figures have brought on single parent charity Gingerbread to name at the Government to crack down on parents who shirk their monetary responsibilities, and prevent kids falling into poverty as a result. In the 3 months to March, around 94,000 parents had been in arrears to the Child Maintenance Service, of which 61,000 had paid not anything closer to child aid, in line with the present day figures posted through the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
The figures refer to parents on 'acquire and pay', that's in which the Child Maintenance Service arranges payments among parents who either can not or do not want to set up bills between themselves directly. Parents not on acquire and pay can also be in arrears.
Parents on collect and pay who have paid extra than 90% of what they owe aren't counted as in arrears. The overall number of parents in arrears has expanded through over 42,000 in the final 5 years, rising from 51,500 in March 2017 to 94,000 in March 2022.
However, proportionally the figure has dropped, with 64.8 on bills in 2017, in comparison to 57% in 2022. The final years has seen a rise in the percentage of parents in arrears with 54.6 on bills in March 2020, on the start of the Covid pandemic. The percentage of parents paying truely not anything closer to child maintenance has additionally dropped on the grounds that 2017 with figures falling from 41.4% in 2017 to 36.9% in 2017. However throughout the pandemic the discern rose 4.6 percent points, from 32.4% in March 2020.
How many parents aren't paying child support in your area?
Regionally, the North West had the best number of non-paying parents with nearly 8,000 paying nothing closer to child support in the 3 months to March. This became observed through the South East with simply over 7,500 after which London with simply under 6,500.
The North West additionally had the best overall number of overall parents in arrears with simply over 12,200, observed through the South East with 11,500 and London with nearly 10,000.
Proportionally, London has the best percent of parents in arrears with 18.5% on bills, observed through the North East with 18.1% and the North West with 18.0%. At a nearby level, Birmingham had the best quantity of parents in the back of on child support, with more than 2,000 in arrears, affecting over 3,500 children.
'Children forced to live in poverty'
Victoria Benson, chief executive officer of Gingerbread, said parents have a legal and moral duty to contribute to their child's upbringing and that the Government needs to do more to crackdown on non-paying parents.
Ms Benson said: "Child maintenance simply cannot be seen as optional. The Child Maintenance Service needs to use its powers to stamp out persistent non-payment and ensure that no child experiences hardship or poverty because their non-resident parent won't support them financially.