MERSEYSIDE lawyers are warning new plans to openly shame errant fathers will add to pain and heartache for struggling families in the region.
They fear children will get caught up in the cross fire if new Child Support Agency (CSA) plans are implemented to name and shame fathers who do not pay their full maintenance contributions.
It comes a year after Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton accepted the main recommendations of a report by former Liverpool City Council chief executive Sir David Henshaw, admitting the CSA had "fallen well short of expectations".
The main thrust of the changes will be to changes will also see parents encouraged to make their own arrangements and allow those on benefit to keep "significantly" more of their payments.
But lawyers last night said instead of headline-grabbing stunts, what is needed is a properly thought-through system which is fair and workable.
Family solicitor Helen Broughton of Morecrofts said: "The whole problem about child support is the that they deal with issues that stem from emotional conflict and they are trying to sort out payments with a formula, but they need to take into account that every family is different.
"What they should have done is give the courts better guidance about what is an appropriate amount of child support. The courts are set up to recover debts so they should be able to deal with payments that are not made.
"They are hoping that by naming and shaming a few people, maybe 1per cent of the cases, that they will encourage other people to pay up, but I'm not sure that will work.
"They should also have better liason with the inland revenue to trace people's finances - that's what happens in Australia."
Resolution represents 5,000 specialist family lawyers in England and Wales. Merseyside members last night the Government’s Child Support Bill, published two weeks ago, doesn't go far enough to deliver real help to the hundreds of children across Merseyside failed by the present CSA.
Resolution spokeswoman, Jo-anne Lomax, from Wirral firm Lees and Partners, said: "The new commission carries forward many of the failings of the old CSA and unless the Government finds a more structured system that works, instead of one based around conflict and blame, families will continue to lose out.
"It is the children that are the most important factor in all of this and the process of 'naming and shaming' and the introduction of bailiffs and credit reference agencies to trace child support evaders will only add smoke to the fire and won't help families facing problems in the future.
"Resolution put forward detailed proposals earlier this year to deal with both the backlog of existing cases and to introduce a system which avoids similar problems arising in the future.
"These include scope for couples to agree their own arrears settlements, via the courts, and for the courts to have a greater role in assessing child support payments where they are already dealing with financial matters around divorce."