Gingerbread, the national charity for single parent families, has published its latest report, “Children Deserve More – Challenging Child Maintenance Avoidance“, June 2017.

The report examines the child maintenance scheme rules and the way in which they are administered by the Child Maintenance Service which enables some paying parents to pay levels of maintenance far below their actual ability to financially support their children.

Gingerbread recommends that the DWP develop and publish a comprehensive strategy to combat child maintenance avoidance and evasion. It makes both immediate and longer term recommendations to improve the perceived failings of the current child maintenance system.

Director James Pirrie of Family Law in Partnership was consulted by Gingerbread in the preparation of this report and is acknowledged for his advice and comments. James is a specialist in child maintenance and appeared before the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee to talk about the practical impact of the introduction of the new Child Maintenance Service. For more information on the application of the rules of the Child Maintenance Service, please read Child Support Payments, or contact James Pirrie at E: jp@flip.co.uk or T: 020 7420 5000.