UNDER tough new Government measures, more than 20,000 absent parents in the south face losing their driving licences and passports if they refuse to fulfil their child maintenance obligations.

The Welfare Reform Bill includes powers to remove driving licences and passport of non-payers until they have paid up in full, without having to go to court and thus rendering them unable to drive or travel abroad.

Figures provided by the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, the successor to the Child Support Agency, reveal that last September, 20,180 parents in the south, including 5,320 in Southampton, were under financial obligations to support a child or children with whom they did not live.

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Court order The Child Support Agency had the power to apply for a court order to confiscate the driving licences of parents who refused to pay for their children and Parliament last year passed an act to give the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission the same power in relation to passports.

Now the Welfare Reform Bill will enable the commission to bypass the courts and directly order absent parents to give up their driving licences and passports until they have met their financial obligations.

The Department for Work and Pensions said the move would be a “last resort” to be taken after all other means had been tried. The Welfare Reform Bill also includes measures to require many single parents and people on incapacity benefit to seek work.