Welfare Reform Bill: 9th report of session 2008-09, report

Clause 42 of the Welfare Reform Bill proposes to amend the Child Support Act 1991 to give new sanction powers to the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) to disqualify a person from holding a passport, a driving licence, or both, if he or she has wilfully and culpably failed to pay maintenance for a child. This administrative power would replace the current court-based systems for such disqualifications. The Committee believe (as first expressed in their 3rd report of session 2007-08, HL 27, ISBN 9780104014462) that it is constitutionally unsatisfactory for CMEC and its contractors to have a sanction to withdraw a person’s right to hold a passport, despite the proposed right of appeal to a court by anyone so disqualified. There are also insufficient safeguards to ensure that powers to exercise sanctions will be exercised by officials of appropriate seniority within CMEC, and something more than the ministerial assurances given on this matter is required.