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The Government has announced that, as part of the restructuring of the child maintenance system, an extra £20 million will be made available to support families going through divorce or separation. 

The money will help families work out their own arrangements, rather than trapping them in the current outdated system, which has been shown to be expensive and divisive and does not put children first.

A typical case in the Child Support Agency can cost the taxpayer around £25,000, rising to around £40,000 if enforcement action is needed. Many parents already share the care of their children and it is estimated that if those made their own arrangements for maintenance this could save the taxpayer £45m per year.

Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said:

"This is about helping to put children first in what is a difficult and traumatic time for all concerned. Most parents want to come to arrangements with a minimal disruption to their children and by offering them the right support we can help make this the case.

"We need to radically re-think the support we provide to separating parents to place family responsibility and the welfare of children at its heart. Our plans to reform the child maintenance system will enable parents to come to their own family-based arrangements which work far better for children."

The Child Support Agency has forcibly deducted a record sum of money from a father's bank account in order to settle 16 years worth of child maintenance he failed to pay for his daughter.

Using powers requiring banks to open up the accounts of indebted parents, investigators found enough money in a single deposit account to repay his entire debt of £108,000. The amount was frozen to allow the man time to appeal and later seized.

In another case a mother from London, whose ex-partner refused to pay for his child for eight years, has received more than £20,000 taken from his bank account via a lump sum deduction order.

With an estimated £3.7 billion owed in unpaid child maintenance, Ministers have signalled their determination to crack down on irresponsible parents who fail to support their children.

Work and Pensions Minister, Maria Miller, said:

“We are also fundamentally reforming the child maintenance system. The flawed rules under which the CSA operates give parents no incentive to pay up on time, still less collaborate with their child's other parent to make sure their children are properly supported.”

The current Child Support Agency scheme is set to close to new customers from next year. A new child maintenance service will be launched in the biggest overhaul of the system since it was first set up in 1993.

The Government has launched a three month consultation on planned structural changes to the child maintenance system. The proposals involve transferring the functions of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission into the Department for Work and Pensions, under direct Ministerial control.

A father who hadn't paid child support for his daughter for over 16 years has had a record sum of money seized from his bank account, reports the Telegraph.