§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what action he has taken to improve the payment of maintenance by absent parents; and what further action he proposes.
§ Mr. NewtonFrom October 1989, we extended the absent parent's liability to maintain to cover dependent children aged 16, 17 and 18. I have also already announced that from next month we are strengthening the basis on which DSS local offices assess absent parents' ability to pay maintenance.
I now propose some further changes in the law, to improve the way in which the present system works and in 76W particular to tackle some of the problems which lone parents themselves face in regard to the making and enforcement of maintenance orders.
I intend to bring forward an amendment to the present Social Security Bill to give courts the power to make an order for recovery of benefit which can have regard to the income support personal allowance of the mother even where she is divorced or was never married. This will recognise her costs as child carer, and bring social security law more into line with family law.
I also intend to bring forward two further amendments to improve the working of maintenance orders themselves. The first will propose that DSS be given power to transfer to the lone parent an order which it has obtained, if she leaves benefit. This eliminates the need for her to make a fresh application for a maintenance order and means that she can take the maintenance for the child with her, if she wishes to go to work, thus reducing what has often been held to be a discouragement. The second will propose that DSS be given a power to seek enforcement of a claimant's own maintenance order if the absent parent fails to pay. These changes will reduce the need for the lone parent to take court action herself.