I strongly believe the existing legislation around child maintenance payments is failing thousands of children. The legislation needs to create real penalties for non-payment, by making refusal to pay child maintenance a criminal offence.
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My personal experience has been that current mechanisms to ensure child maintenance is paid are inadequate to extract payment from a parent who refuses to prioritise the wellbeing of their own children.
Non-payment of child maintenance is a particular issue in cases of domestic abuse, where a parent may be unable to escape abuse and poverty if child maintenance is not paid.
The consequences for failing to pay child maintenance need to be stringent. Making non-payment of child maintenance a criminal offence would be a start.