 Some children could be PENSIONERS by the time their parents finally pay off a 'rump' of child maintenance debt, MPs heard today. Around 69,000 parents still owe their partners money dating back to the Child Support Agency - which was replaced with a new system from 2012. All but £310m of the old debt was written off in an amnesty. But Joshua Reddaway of the National Audit Office (NAO) told MPs the 'rump' that is left will be 'collected for a very very long time.' He told the Commons Work and Pensions Committee the issue had caused 'quite a lot of anger and pain'. Because many parents are on low incomes, an estimated 59% will take more than 10 years to fully repay - and 39% will take more than 20 years. He said: 'The half that is in payment, some of it could take decades. The DWP, which oversees the Child Maintenance Service ( In Pictures via Getty Images) 'I'm afraid it's quite possible that some of those children will be collecting their state pension… Possibly not, but certainly some of them are my age, 42.' Unpaid debts across the entire Child Maintenance Service hit a staggering £493million in June and are rising by £1m a week, hitting £1bn by 2031. That means 8% of all the child maintenance ever demanded in the 10-year history of the scheme is currently unpaid. Mr Reddaway said it was 'not a broken organisation' but 'they have dreadful - they have problems and their customers are not happy.' He added: 'They have a long way to go and we would expect them to be making these improvements.' The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) insisted enforcement includes seizing goods, forcing property sales or removing passports. But Victoria Benson, chief executive of single parents' charity Ging){kind=link}
It came as unpaid debts across the entire Child Maintenance Service hit a staggering £493million – 6% of all the money ever demanded by single parents in the organisation’s 10-year history
Some children could be PENSIONERS by the time their parents finally pay off a “rump” of child maintenance debt, MPs heard today.
Around 69,000 parents still owe their partners money dating back to the Child Support Agency – which was replaced with a new system from 2012.
All but £310m of the old debt was written off in an amnesty.
But Joshua Reddaway of the National Audit Office (NAO) told MPs the “rump” that is left will be “collected for a very very long time.”