21-10-03

Action needed to tackle lying parents – Barrett

John Barrett, Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West, today slammed the Child Support Agency and the Government for failing to prosecute lying parents.

Answers to questions from Liberal Democrat MPs in the House of Commons showed that only 14 people had been prosecuted in the last year for making false statements to the Child Support Agency. A further 163 were prosecuted for failing to provide full information.

In a statement, John Barrett, said:

"The Child Support Agency makes almost 10,000 new maintenance calculations each year.  I refuse to believe that only 14 of these cases have involved a parent making a false statement.  After all, as many people have come to my own constituency surgery alone, raising with me the issue of an absentee parent lying to the CSA over their finances.

"It clearly remains far too easy for some people to hoodwink the system.  One of my own constituents came to me over an absentee parent who had not admitted to their huge investments in property.  Another case involved a self-employed parent who did not disclose their full earnings.  In each case, the CSA calculated too a low a payment, cheating their child out of the money they deserved.

"Clearly the Department for Work & Pensions must work better with the Child Support Agency to ensure that those parents who do make false or inaccurate declarations are properly prosecuted.  Better still, improved advertising and tougher penalties should be considered to reduce the numbers lying to the CSA in the first-place."

ENDS