The much-criticised Child Support Agency is to be scrapped, the government said on Monday, paving the way for a body with new possible powers such as tagging parents who do not pay for their children's upkeep.

Under the proposals outlined by Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton, absent parents who failed to meet their responsibilities could also have their passports seized and face night-time curfews. They could also be publicly named and shamed.

In addition to the tough penalties, parents would be encouraged to make their own arrangements for providing child support.

The CSA, which enforces maintenance payments by separated parents, has been plagued by problems since its set up in 1993.

Dubbed the Child Shambles Agency by critics, it has struggled to cope with a huge backlog of cases and a failed computer system, and an independent report published on Monday by David Henshaw said the CSA could never be made to work properly.

Hutton admitted the system was burdened with past failures and a "fresh start" was needed.

"I propose to replace the CSA with a new organisation that is simpler but tougher on parents who do not pay up," Hutton said.

"The need for radical overhaul is clear."

The National Audit Office last month said the CSA was failing thousands of families despite a multi-million pound overhaul. Reforms designed to fix the problems have cost 539 million pounds without any improvements.

PERSISTENT PROBLEMS

The NAO said there were persistent problems with enforcing payments and collecting money with an estimated 3.5 billion pounds of maintenance payments outstanding. About 60 percent of this will never be collected.

Hutton said the new system would be simpler to use and run, saving the taxpayer up to 200 million pounds a year.

Another proposal would allow parents on benefit to keep more maintenance money as Hutton said currently four million children could benefit from child support but only one in three did so.

However, the Conservatives said the plans would disappoint the 1.5 million families who used the system and failed to tackle the issue of how much an absent parent should pay.

"Having just poured half-a-billion pounds of tax payer's money down the drain the Government must be sure it has addressed this key issue before spending any more," said Tory work and pensions spokesman Philip Hammond.

The Child Poverty Action Group said it welcomed the replacement of the CSA and the plans for a tough enforcement system. But it added parents needed assurances that the money they needed would get through the system.

"Ultimately the test of these measures will be whether money gets through swiftly to children and helps to lift them out of poverty," said Kate Green, CPAG's chief executive.