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Gingerbread calls on government to drop child maintenance fees

Single-parent charity Gingerbread has renewed calls for government to reverse plans to introduce child maintenance fees after figures revealed more than 1.1bn was collected by the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) last year.

The latest statistics also reveal that in 2010 more than £3.7bn was owed by parents in uncollected arrears while more than £1.1m single parents were dependent on child support services.

The figures have prompted campaigners to urge government to reconsider plans to charge parents for using public child maintenance services.

Fiona Weir, Gingerbread’s chief executive, said: "The government wants parents to make their own child maintenance arrangements but for many families that just isn’t possible. Informal agreements can be scuppered by conflict, lack of trust or a non-resident parent’s reluctance to pay.

"While Gingerbread is in favour of providing greater support to separating parents to help them cooperate over arrangements, imposing charges on those who can’t will only end up hurting children."  

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