BURNLEY MP Peter Pike has told Government ministers that self-employed absent fathers are dodging their responsibility to pay towards their children's upbringing.

He said that they seem to make "a rude gesture to the Child Support Agency, the mother of their children, their children and the legal system".

He said their determination to avoid paying maintenance by failing to provide proper accounts of their work "makes operation of the system quite chaotic."

He told Junior Work Minister Chris Pond: "We must ensure that that is ended, because it is not acceptable."

Mr Pond replied: "I agree with you and those non-resident parents who think that they are making a rude gesture to the agency, they will soon find that, as new powers are increasingly used, there will not be a rude gesture coming in the other direction, but something much more effective."