SEPARATED parents in Neath Port Talbot owe more than £10 million in child maintenance payments, figures have revealed.

The statistics were published just days after the House of Lords handed the UK Government its biggest defeat since it came to power, blocking plans to start charging single parents to use the Child Support Agency.

The Government says an extra £20 million would be made available to help separated families work out their own arrangements over payment and estimates it could save the taxpayer around £45 million a year if the reforms went ahead. And the Government has not given up hope of the reforms being passed, despite the blow from the Lords.

According to figures released by the Department of Work and Pensions in 2011, £10,621,000 is owed in arrears to the agency from parents in the county borough who have sought help.

In the cases, 79 per cent out of a total of 3,900 were resolved in the past 12 months.

Swansea councillor for Uplands Peter May, who shares parental responsibility for his two eldest children with a previous partner, said: "The Child Support Agency was only ever introduced as a way for parents who could not resolve financial problems between them.

"It is encouraging to see parents coming to their own agreement about the finances of the children.

"It means they are able to sort things out between themselves and that children are being parented by both parents."

Gwynne Wooldridge, executive board member for education and children's services at Carmarthenshire Council, said: "My main concern is how it affects the children.

"If it is going to cause trauma between parents or emotional problems for the child, then it is a problem, the child has to come first."

As part of the planned reform, the government is seeking to introduce an upfront charge of £50 or £100 plus a levy of up to 12 percent on maintenance payment if a single parent had taken steps to reach a voluntary agreement on child support.

Speaking about the reform, Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said: "This is about helping to put children first in what is a difficult and traumatic time for all concerned.

"Most parents want to come to arrangements with a minimal disruption to their children and by offering them the right support we can help make this the case. We need to radically rethink the support we provide to separating parents to place family responsibility and the welfare of children at its heart.

"Our plans to reform the child maintenance system will enable parents to come to their own family-based arrangements which work far better for children."