Unpaid child maintenance backlog in UK is £3.8bn

A report by Nicola Ress for the BBC today reveals that there is a UK backlog of more than £3.8bn in uncollected child maintenance payments, figures have
revealed.

The money is owed by non-resident parents and has built up over 23 years, with figures showing
about 1.2 million people are owed child maintenance.

The Department for Work and Pensions said a new system was "actively pursuing" unpaid child
maintenance.
But Janet Allbeson, from the charity Gingerbread, called for parents waiting for money to
receive compensation.

The latest figures, revealed by the Victoria Derbyshire programme, show the vast majority of
unpaid maintenance money was accumulated under the Child Support Agency (CSA) - which was set up
in 1993.

The system was replaced in 2012 after mistakes were made with assessments and absent parents were
not tracked down.

However, a further £93m of unpaid child maintenance has already developed under the new Child
Maintenance Service (CMS) system.

It comes as the findings of a Work and Pensions Committee inquiry into CMS are due to be
published next week.

MPs on the committee are expected to be highly critical of the new scheme.

For more information click here