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Website to 'shame' absent parents | Website to 'shame' absent parents |
(40 minutes later) | |
Ministers are planning to publish on the internet the names of absent parents who refuse to pay maintenance for their children. | |
The move, aimed at shaming parents into paying up what they owe, has already been tried in the US. | |
It is due to be among measures in a White Paper later this week. | |
The paper will outline reforms to the maintenance system, including details of the body which is to replace the troubled Child Support Agency. | |
New enforcement powers will be aimed at the 30% of absent parents the agency been unable to track down. | |
The website could be up and running within months as legislation is not needed to get it online. | |
Electronic tagging | Electronic tagging |
Other proposals are expected to include removing passports from absent parents who do not pay up, and imposing curfews and electronic tagging. | |
The CSA, which has been dogged by problems and is owed £3.5bn, is to be scrapped and replaced with a smaller body. | |
On Saturday it emerged that the agency had been increasingly using private companies to collect unpaid money, which had so far enabled it to recover about £320,000 which it would not otherwise have recovered. | |
However, some campaigners fear that more than £1bn owed to parents will be written off when the agency is replaced. | However, some campaigners fear that more than £1bn owed to parents will be written off when the agency is replaced. |