Enforcing child maintenance

Kehoe v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2005] UKHL 48

The House of Lords upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision that the inability of a mother to personally enforce arrears of maintenance arising under a maintenance assessment under the Child Support Act 1991 did not engage her rights under article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Child Support Act 1991 had deliberately avoided conferring a right on the person with care to enforce a child maintenance assessment against the absent parent.