The Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines requires child support officers to notify the Registry Trust of all liability orders granted in respect of child support debt within one working day.

This is mandatory, not optional. It carries no administrative cost. Yet neither the Child Support Agency nor the Child Maintenance Service notify the Registry Trust of liability orders granted for child support arrears.

Child support debt is treated entirely differently to other types of debt. Liability orders for any other kind of debt are routinely notified to the Registry Trust, but the Department for Work and Pensions deliberately flouts the law in regard to child support debt. It systematically prioritizes non-paying fathers’ convenience, comfort and wellbeing over the welfare of their children.

The Department for Work and Pensions is acting unlawfully. Furthermore, this demonstrates that the repeated claims by successive ministers since 2010 that the DWP is using all its enforcement powers are patently false.

 

The Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines Regulations 2005 came into force on 6 April 2006:

“3.  In these Regulations 

“appropriate officer” means (c) in respect of a liability order designated for the purposes of section 33(5) of the Child Support Act 1991 (a), the Secretary of State.

“judgment” means any judgment or order of the court for a sum of money and, in respect of a county court, includes a liability order designated by the Secretary of State for the purposes of section 33(5) of the Child Support Act 1991.

5.  Any step to be taken under these Regulations by the appropriate officer or the Registrar shall be taken within one working day.

8. _ (1)  The appropriate officer shall send to the Registrar a return of (a) every judgment entered in (ii) a county court.

10.  The return sent by virtue of regulation 8(1) shall contain details of-

  1. the full name and address of the debtor in respect of whom the entry in the Register is to be made;

  2. if the entry is to be in respect of an individual, that individual’s date of birth (where known);

  3. the amount of the debt;

  4. the case number;

  5. in respect of a return sent by virtue of regulation 8(1)(a), regarding a liability order designated under section 33(5) of the Child Support Act 1991, the date of the judgment

26.  The Registrar shall remove any entry in the Register registered (a) by virtue of regulation 8(1)(a), six years from the date of the judgment.”

 

The Child Maintenance Service leaflet What happens if a paying parent doesn’t pay child maintenance?  A guide for receiving parents, published in November 2013, states:

“Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines

We can enter a liability (a debt) onto the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines.  When a credit reference agency checks this register, the paying parent’s ability to get finance (loans, mortgages, credit cards and so on) can be affected.  If the paying parent has their own business and suppliers know that they are on this register as the suppliers may change the way they ask the paying parent to pay for business supplies.  It can also stop a paying parent from joining a professional organisation, or affect things if they are already a member.”

Note the word ‘can’ rather than ‘shall’.  This indicates that the power is discretionary, whereas in fact it is obligatory.  It also gives a dishonest impression that this power is commonly used, whereas in fact it is almost never used.

 
 

On 19 July 2017 the Child Maintenance Complaints Team told me:

“You suggest the Child Support Agency broke the law when it failed to register two Liability Orders granted in respect of Child Support Agency arrears owed to you by Mr Price with the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines. The Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines is a register in England and Wales in which the Child Maintenance Service may choose to enter a Liability Order. It is administered by Registry Trust Limited. Obtaining a Liability Order does not mean that the Child Maintenance Service will automatically register the legally recognised period of debt. This action has the effect of damaging a paying parent’s credit rating, which means they will find it more difficult to get a loan or mortgage.”

So the Child Maintenance Service is effectively saying that it chooses not to register Liability Orders with the Registry Trust in order to protect the non-paying parent from any inconvenience. It chooses to prioritize the welfare and self interest of the parent who refuses to pay child support over the welfare of the child entitled to that support. It forces the non receiving parent - 97% of the time the mother - into poverty and debt instead, causing her credit rating to be damaged. It is difficult to work out how the Department for Work and Pensions can justify this. Section 2 of the Child Support Act 1991 states:

“Welfare of children: the general principle

Where, in any case which falls to be dealt with under this Act, the Secretary of State or any child support officer is considering the exercise of any discretionary power conferred by this Act, he shall have regard to the welfare of any child likely to be affected by his decision.”

Nowhere in the Child Support Act 1991 does it mention prioritizing the credit rating of the non resident parent over the welfare of the child.

There is almost no point in obtaining a liability order if it is not registered with the Registry Trust. If the only people aware of the liability order are the mother, the father, the Child Support Agency/Child Maintenance Service, and the magistrate who granted the order as part of a whole batch of orders, then it confers no ill effect upon the debtor. It is entirely redundant. No wonder I had to fight tooth and nail to get each liability order - they knew all along it was a waste of time, money and effort.