ABSENT parents are withholding tens of millions of pounds from children in the south, figures have revealed.

Statistics published by the Department for Work and Pensions show the total amount owed to families for child maintenance in south Hampshire and the Isle of Wight has reached a staggering £60m.

The biggest blackspot in the region is the Parliamentary constituency of Southampton Itchen, where £9.2m is owed by non-resident parents. It is followed by the Isle of Wight (£8.2m), Southampton Test (£7.5m) and Gosport (£7.1m). The area owing least in child support is Romsey, at £3.1m.

Collecting cash owed by absent parents is the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC), which oversees the much-criticised Child Support Agency (CSA).

A CMEC spokesman said: “Regrettably some parents go to great lengths to avoid their financial responsibility to their children, requiring costly and time-consuming enforcement action to be taken against them. But we do not give up on cases and nor do we write off accumulated arrears.

“The Commission is using tough enforcement measures, including deducting money directly from bank accounts and seizing properties.”

Separate figures, published by the CMEC last year, revealed that as of September 2008, some 25,080 parents in the south – including 5,320 in Southampton – were under financial obligations to support a child with whom they did not live.

Gingerbread, a charity that works with single parent families, called on the CMEC to "do its job".

Chief executive Fiona Weir said: “Child maintenance is vital for children in separated families.

“We know from single parents that this is much-needed money which pays for items such as children’s clothes, school meals, trips and activities and childcare.

Ultimately the responsibility for paying child maintenance rests with the nonresident parent, but the Child Support Agency has to do its job too in collecting debts and enforcing payment.”

Children's Minister Tim Loughton told the Daily Echo: “Clearly we need to have a more efficient way of pursuing errant parents, making sure that parents who have done the right thing by their children aren’t pursued unfairly.

“We need to make a clear distinction here between those parents who do try to do the right thing by their children, and haven’t been treated fairly by the CSA, and those absentee parents who have completely shirked their responsibilities and seem to get off scot free. We need to redouble our efforts to make sure they face up to their responsibilities by their children.”