MPs target absent parent payments

3 July 2011 Last updated at 08:46 GMT A group of MPs have called for absent parents to make child maintenance payments taken directly from their salaries or bank accounts

Non-resident parents should make their child maintenance payments directly from their salaries or bank accounts, a committee of MPs has recommended.

They found the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission cost 50p for every ?1 it collected and had failed to collect ?3.8bn in payments due.

The Work and Pensions Committee called on the government to make the child support system more efficient.

The commission replaced the much-criticised Child Support Agency.

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We think if CMEC is going to be able to chase down runaway dads then they have to have all the powers necessary”

End Quote Anne Begg MP The committee found that many separated parents did not receive regular maintenance for their children and in some cases did not get payments at all.

Officials can take money directly from those who fall behind but the committee said direct payments from bank accounts or salaries should be required in all cases.

The government has said it wants to encourage separated parents to come to their own voluntary arrangements.

But its plans to charge a fee and call in officials to collect the payments of couples who cannot reach such an agreement were criticised by the MPs.

They also said the new agency still had operational weaknesses.

'Obligation'

Committee chairman Anne Begg said the current system could easily be improved.

She told the BBC: "There are many non-resident parents who already set up a mechanism, usually direct debit, to make sure their children get the money that they're entitled to.

"What we want to see is this widened so that everyone has an obligation to make sure there is some payment in process which is regular."

The Work and Pensions Committee is also calling on the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) to be given the power to remove the passports and driving licences of absent parents who persistently avoid making child maintenance payments.

"The date hasn't been set as to when those powers come into effect, and we just say they should make sure they do come into effect," said Ms Begg.

"Not that they should be used regularly, but we think if CMEC is going to be able to chase down runaway dads then they have to have all the powers necessary."

A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman acknowledged the agency was not working well enough for children and said the government would give its full response in due course.

Fiona Weir, the chief executive of single parent charity Gingerbread, said she supported the committee's recommendations.

"This report provides a timely and comprehensive critique of the government's proposals, and we expect ministers to heed its recommendations as they finalise future plans for child maintenance," she said.

Last month, Prime Minister David Cameron said absent fathers should be "stigmatised" by society in the same way as drink-drivers.

However, he was criticised by Gingerbread, which said government proposals to charge people in need of state help to obtain child maintenance payments would make life harder for single parents.

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Target migration cut 'unlikely'

21 June 2011 Last updated at 00:41 GMT The Migration Observatory said reforms will leave net migration at about 165,000 by 2015 Government plans to cut net migration to the "tens of thousands" by 2015 are likely to fail, a report has found.

Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May have pledged to reduce net migration from the current 242,000 to less than 100,000 people.

But immigration system reforms will leave net migration at about 165,000 by 2015, according to analysis by Oxford University's Migration Observatory.

Immigration minister Damian Green repeated the government's pledge.

The government is attempting to reduce the net immigration level in four ways: reducing labour immigration, student immigration and family immigration from outside the EU; and making it harder for migrants to settle in the UK - encouraging greater outflows, the Migration Observatory said.

It said government figures show changes to work and student visas are expected to cut net migration by a respective 11,000 and 56,000 people by 2015.

The Migration Observatory also found that changes to family visas will cut the numbers by 8,000 at most, while plans to make it harder for migrants to settle in the UK are unlikely to reduce migration flows until 2016.

'Disarray'

Dr Scott Blinder, senior researcher at the observatory, said: "The government's current policies only look likely to reduce net migration by about 75,000 at best, which would mean that further reductions of more than 67,000 would be needed to meet the 'tens-of-thousands' net migration target."

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This government will tackle abuse of the system and get net migration reduced back down to the tens of thousands in the lifetime of this parliament”

End Quote Damian Green Immigration minister To achieve the target, the government will either have to further tighten immigration rules or "reconsider the target or the timeframe in which they intend to deliver it", Dr Blinder said.

The government could also hope that more British and EU nationals emigrate from the UK or that current assessments are "way off the mark". But these two options are "pretty unlikely", he added.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the report showed that the government has "no workable policies" to meet its promise and that its immigration policy was in "complete disarray".

She went on: "Last week we learnt that their changes to the student visas system would cost the UK economy ?2.4bn and would still only have half the impact on net migration that they promised.

"Recent reports also show the government is failing to ensure the UK Border Agency has the resources it needs to effectively enforce immigration rules, with 5,000 cuts in staff and no chief executive in place after five months.

"At the heart of their policies is chaos, confusion, rows between ministers and misleading measures which will fail to properly safeguard both the economy and the UK's borders," she said.

Responding to the report, Immigration minister Damian Green said the immigration system had been allowed to get out of control for too long.

"This government will tackle abuse of the system and get net migration reduced back down to the tens of thousands in the lifetime of this parliament," he said.

On Monday, Mr Cameron said the Liberal Democrats were preventing the Tories from taking tougher action on immigration.

"We've all had to make compromises," he told BBC Radio 2's Steve Wright.

"If I was running a Conservative-only government I think we would be making further steps on things like immigration control or making sure that our welfare reforms were absolutely making sure that if you're not prepared to work you can't go on welfare.

"I think we'd be tougher than that. We make compromises, we make agreements, but as a government I think we're delivering a lot of good things for the country," he said.

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