Ms Haughey, pictured right, added: “A colleague has shared with us that he has dealt with cases where constituents have spent years trying to navigate the child maintenance service, hitting delay after delay. That should concern us all.
“One of my constituents had provided the CMS with publicly available evidence about their ex-partner’s employment and income status.
“The evidence was provided over the course of several years—and the child maintenance was due over that period.
“My constituent had concerns about benefit and tax fraud, so the case spanned multiple UK governmental agencies: the CMS, the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs.
“There seemed to be a complete lack of cross-agency accountability, with no department willing to take the lead to properly investigate and no apparent mechanism for instigating cross-departmental review when agencies’ roles overlapped.”
She added: “Unsurprisingly, the emotional and financial strain on my constituent was immense. Having contacted the CMS, I received a response that, save for a few personal details about my constituent, was so generic that it could have been sent to any number of individuals.
“After I replied to detail the effects on my constituent and their children yet again, I received a response suggesting that my constituent could complete an online form to provide more information if they disagreed with departmental policy.
“That was utterly staggering. It was lacking in any accountability. Such correspondence is not the hallmark of a UK Government agency that is fit for purpose and responsive to service users’ needs—or, in this instance, to the need to take measures to protect public money.”
Ms Haughey said that a “Panorama” documentary clearly documented the scale of the issues with the CMS, and it shone much-needed light on the impact on families and children.
She added: “Since 2012, £790 million of child maintenance has remained unpaid, with the National Audit Office estimating that that amount will hit £1 billion by 2031.
“One Parent Families Scotland tells us that, if maintenance was paid to all children who currently do not receive what they are entitled to, a total of £200 million would be paid to around 100,000 children across Scotland.
“It is very clear that the CMS is a UK Government service that is performing very poorly. However, this is not simply an issue about its key performance indicators.
“Behind every delay, arbitrary decision or generic response, some children are missing out.”
The MSP said that what the UK Government started in 2012 was “an austerity measure dressed up as reform”.
She added: “Trying to minimise statutory support for making and maintaining arrangements has been a failed experiment.
“It has resulted in the creaking service that we have today, which too often fails to enforce payments or adequately safeguard women and children who experience domestic abuse.
“Eradicating child poverty is critically important to the Scottish Government, and our policies are estimated to be keeping 100,000 children out of relative poverty this year.
“The child maintenance service is not fit for purpose. Warm words will not put money in parents’ pockets. I support the third sector organisations that support those who are fighting for their just cause with the CMS.”