Commons Committee in favour of maintenance deducations from salary

Sunday, 03rd July 2011

The House of Commons Select Committee on Work and Pensions has recommended that non-resident parents should pay child maintenance directly through deductions from their wage or bank accounts.

The Committee's report calls on the government to introduce a more efficient way of managing the child maintenance service, the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. The Committee pointed out that it cost £572 million to administer the scheme in 2009-2010, but it only collected £1,141 million in maintenance that year - a cost of around 50p for every £1 collected.

The recommendation that payments are made directly from salary or bank accounts would, 'increase the number of families who receive payments in full and on time,' according to Dame Anne Begg, the Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee.

The Government's view is that parents should be encouraged and supported to make their own arrangements for the maintenance of children before making use of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. It has been suggested that parents should be charged for using the CMEC, or that they should be required to mediate before being permitted to apply to the CMEC.