If parents try to avoid paying child maintenance we will take action to get the money they owe. We are also looking into thousands of cases where parents have avoided paying for their children over many years.
We can take the money direct from their wages. We can also take action through the courts. This might include asking bailiffs to collect the money owed, taking away their driving licences, or sending them to prison.
Between February 2007 and January 2008 in Great Britain:
- over 74,000 new deduction from earnings orders were sent to employers to take money from a non-resident parent's earnings or pension
- over 18,000 liability orders were granted, and
- over 500 non-resident parents received immediate or suspended sentences.
During the same period, our actions led to:
- over 1,500 County Court Judgement Orders
- almost 2,000 Third-party Debt Orders, and
- almost 2,000 Charging Orders.
We are using our range of powers to track down non-paying parents.
If you are a non-resident parent who would like to find out how to pay child maintenance, act now or find out more about the action we can take if you fail to pay.
