A Christchurch mother has slammed a lack of enforcement over child support arrears as akin to “state-sanctioned abuse”. 

Figures released to NZME under the Official Information Act reveal of the 91,584 New Zealanders expected to pay child support, 72% – or 66,348 – are in default. 

Thirty-six people – or 0.05% – have been referred for court action over the past 12 months. 

The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) said that is an increase on court actions taken previously, due to a variety of factors, including the suspension of legal action throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and a change in government priorities. 

The IRD also revealed it does not have a policy for referring overdue child support payments to the courts. 

Family law barrister Sharon Chandra, of Bankside Chambers, says having no policy around court referrals of overdue payments is inexcusable. 

“I think that there lies the problem,” Chandra said. 

“It’s not that the IRD doesn’t have the power to obtain a remedy in a situation like this – there are things like charging orders and warrants to seize and examinations – there just seems to be this disconnect where they’ve got the ability do it, but they’re not doing it. They’re not making it a priority.” 

A single mother of one, who lives in Christchurch and asked not to be named, described the numbers as “shameful”. 

“It’s shocking, and really disheartening. How are we, as single parents, supposed to get on when the Government’s not supporting us when paying parents just don’t have to pay,” she said. 

Family law barrister Sharon Chandra, of Bankside Chambers, says having no policy around court referrals of overdue payments is inexcusable. 

“If you think that 0.05% of paying parents who aren’t paying are actually taken to court, there is no incentive to pay at all.” 

She said if some receiving parents are forced back to unsafe situations because they financially can’t cope, and the Government is doing nothing about that then “it’s like state-sanctioned abuse”. 

“It’s shameful. Shameful for our country. It’s shameful to our country. The Government spends so much time praising themselves for what they do for families or what they do for children in their Budgets, when actually, over $600 million in front of children when they need it would make a significant difference,” she said. 

“We’re a country [where] children experience significant poverty. Yet, over $600 million is owed to those children today, and nothing has been done about it.” 

A second mother, who has also chosen not to be named, echoes the sentiment. 

“Those numbers were just a joke to me. They might as well do nothing.” 

She believes more enforcement and real consequences for non-payment parents would make the difference. 

“There are some people that know it won’t go on their credit record, they know it won’t affect their property, so they they don’t even care about any of it because then nobody’s being prosecuted,” she said. 

She said the 21st of the month (when child support payments arrive in receiving parents’ accounts) is a nerve-wracking day every month. 

“I call it child support roulette,” she said. 

“They won’t tell you that there’s a payment coming or anything. You basically just wait til the 20th of every month and log on to your child support roulette. It’s a lucky draw whether it’s going to come or not.” 

The IRD declined to be interviewed for this story, saying “the figures speak for themselves”. 

Since this story was shared by NZME, an Inland Revenue spokesperson has been in contact to offer further information. They have outlined that there is “a separate group of 18,688 customers” referenced in the data. This is a group “who no longer have a current liability (i.e. their kids have grown up) but have arrears outstanding”. 

They added: “The number of customers referred to the courts does not reflect the number of customers who when faced with legal action or an arrest warrant either pay or enter into a payment arrangement. 

“Court action is a last resort and a lot of work is done to get the money paid before a case is considered for prosecution.” 

Claire Sherwood is the South Island News Director and Newsreader for Newstalk ZB.