Fathers 'could face tagging for maintenance non-payment

Absent fathers who fail to pay child maintenance could face quasi-criminal penalties including electronic tagging and being forced to surrender their passports, it was reported today.

Under a revamp of the troubled Child Support Agency (CSA), parents who fail to pay for their children could also be made to carry out community work and barred from running their own firms, according to the Daily Mirror.

The newspaper said it had seen documents showing that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was exploring the feasibility of the removal of passports, disqualification from becoming a company director and restrictions of liberty such as curfews.

Senior civil servants are said to have warned the home secretary, Charles Clarke, that there should be a "proportionate" balance between the seriousness of the offence and the penalty.

They add that there is a need to recognise criminal safeguards may be necessary where sanctions impose quasi-criminal penalties. This would mean giving parents the right of appeal before they are punished as well as the chance to appear before special courts.

The DWP is currently carrying out a review of the CSA in a bid to address its failure to collect maintenance from absent fathers, which has left the agency more than £1bn in arrears.

About 70% of absent fathers are still believed to be refusing to pay maintenance - 12 years after the CSA was set up to stop them from shirking their financial responsibilities.

But the DWP played down reports of the crackdown on absent fathers. A department spokeswoman said: "We are carrying out a root and branch review of the CSA. The strategy will be launched shortly but no final decisions have yet been made."