Clear-up plans for child maintenance

Plans unveiled by the government to clear up the mess left by the Child Support Agency [CSA] will make it a requirement of single mothers to name their child's father on their birth certificate. Only women who are the victims of rape or other exceptional circumstances will be exempt.

The aim of the registration change is to tackle the most problematic cases dealt with by the CSA. Of the worst offenders, one in five are not named on the birth certificate as the child's father. The new requirement is intended to give men a greater sense of responsibility from the earliest days of parenthood.

'We will throw the book at those people who are holding up two fingers to society and to their families in not discharging their financial responsibilities,' said Works and Pensions Secretary John Hutton.

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