Parents of now grown up children are being pursued by the Child Support Agency for debts that they knew nothing about, the debts where amounted in the 1990s after the couple divorced the father Brian Barnett stayed on good terms with his wife Gillian and continued to pay maintenance, the debt was apparently amassed when Gillian was out of work and claiming benefits for her children. The CSA believe that if Brian had been paying the amount of maintenance they told him to his ex wife would not have needed to claim so much financial support from the state.

"I have lots of friends who are single parents, and there were so many who had husbands who didn't pay," Gillian said. “I find it appalling that you've got someone like Brian, who never shirked his duty." Brian says the last contact he had with the Agency was in 1997 and he is angry they have waited so long before calling in the debt.

Unlike most private debts which have a time limit of six years the child support agency are allowed to recover outstanding arrears whenever they like from debtors earnings.