IN-DEPTH: Former Top Minister Demands Inquiry Into ‘Inflation’ Of £3.7 Billion Child Maintenance Debt

Calls for child support reform grow amid claims of inflated arrears, as concerns over due process are raised by politicians and paying parents.

Ann Widdecombe speaks during the Brexit Party Conference tour at the Kent Event Centre, Kent Showground in Maidstone, England, on September 26, 2019. Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

A former minister has called for a full public enquiry into the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), with doubts growing over the legitimacy of £3.7 billion in inherited debt it is still collecting, as its methods in assessing paying parents are called into question.

Speaking to The Epoch Times, Ann Widdecombe, the former Conservative minister, said, “the accumulation of evidence of the CMS’s incompetence is overwhelming.”