TWO children have lodged cases against absent parents to claim their share of a whopping £17.6m owed in child maintenance back payments in the Kingdom.

The two separate cases – believed to be the first of their kind in Fife – have prompted lone parent charity Fife Gingerbread and Lesley Laird, MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, to call for a complete overhaul of the Child Maintenance System (CMS).

“Is this really the best we can do?’ said Rhona Cunningham, chief executive of Fife Gingerbread.

“Are we really reduced to kids having to make a claim for their own child maintenance?”

As part of Welfare Reform measures in 2012, CMS replaced the much-criticised Child Support Agency (CSA) but introduced a £20 application fee and collection fees for both parents; a fee which is waived if the applicant is under 19 years of age.

This has led to the largely unknown method of children pursuing their own child maintenance, with Citizens Advice and Rights Fife (CARF) supporting two 13-year-old claimants - in one case because the parent simply could not afford to pay a £20 application fee.

Lesley Laird said: “Here we are with many lone parents in Fife struggling to feed their children and heat their homes, let alone buy them presents.

“Child poverty is at record levels and is expected to reach one million by 2020. It’s disgraceful that we have a g Government-backed system which charges the parent/carer, with no guarantee of any future child maintenance payments from the absent party.

“Shamefully, here is a system which in some instances is forcing young children to become the claimant. Can you imagine a situation where a child is sitting in class at school and receiving calls from the CMS? Because that’s what would happen.”

The UK Government launched a consultation on December 14 to “inform the Government’s new child maintenance compliance and arrears strategy” but Fife Gingerbread claims the launch had very little publicity.

While the Government claims the consultation will build on an already improved system, One Parent Families Scotland submitted evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee inquiry into child maintenance that 78% of the 100 parents they surveyed believe the CMS is performing poorly or worse than CSA.

In the financial year 2016/17, £110m was due to be paid on CMS collect and pay cases, of which only £56m was collected (51%), despite parents paying an application fee.

Rhona added: “By the Government’s own admission, in the CMS 30 month review, the CSA ‘was failing parents and children’. We cannot see how this system is any different.

“A closer look into the CSA shows that there is still a staggering £2.5bn debt owed to parents over 970,000 cases, with the consultation stating “the vast majority of the debt is now considered uncollectable”.

“Is the £54m from 2016/17 also considered ‘uncollectable’? What is being done to ensure that this time next year there isn’t £100m owed to parents on the new system?

“In Fife, the outstanding amount of child maintenance arrears in 2013 stood at £17.6m. That figure has only increased.”

Lesley Laird added: “I’ll be writing to the Minister for Work and Pensions, David Gauke, to ask him to look at the fee structures of the scheme, to remove the barriers that are preventing claims being taken forward. I’ll also be asking what Government resources are being dedicated to supporting lone parents in pursuing rightful financial support for their children and ask him to look at the rules of self-employment as it appears in some cases to be a vehicle where income can be withheld and children are suffering as a result.

Both Lesley Laird MP and Fife Gingerbread are urging people to get involved in the consultation before the deadline on February 8,

It can be accessed here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/child-maintenance-consultation-launched