Ministers threaten to seize passports if child support dodgers refuse to pay up

PARENTS who refuse to pay child maintenance face the threat of having their passports confiscated under a new UK Government crackdown.

Dads who dodge their responsibilities already face the possibility of prison and having their driving licence removed.

But now ministers want to bring in tough new court powers to disqualify non-paying parents from holding or obtaining a UK passport for up to two years.

In addition, the DWP will be given new controls to claw back maintenance arrears from any state benefits paid out.

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In its consultation document, the DWP states: “This would send a clear message to paying parents that failing to pay for their children is not an option. We will recover the arrears eventually, even if we have to wait until they claim the state pension.”

The idea of disqualifying non-paying parents from holding a passport was included in the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act, which was passed by MPs in 2008.However, this aspect of the UK-wide legislation – which would be decided by the courts – was never commenced and the Government now want to rectify that in order to put more pressure on irresponsible fathers.