ABSENT parents in Boston and Skegness owe almost £8 million in unpaid child support, new figures have revealed.

A report by the Child Support Agency (CSA) shows parents in the area who are not living with their children have dodged £7.985 million in maintenance to help pay their offsprings' way.

The millions have been accumulated over 17 years of non-payments, the CSA said.

The bill racked up by mums and dads shunning their responsibilities has now ranked Boston and Skegness as the 70th worst place of 647 areas in the UK.

Single parent charity Gingerbread has branded the table of figures as the "national league table of shame".

Gingerbread's 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 that 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 non-resident parent, but the Child Support Agency has to do its job in collecting debts and enforcing payment."

While much of the money would have gone directly towards the families, about half of the total is owed to the Government.

It represents income-related benefits paid to parents with care before child maintenance was disconnected from the benefits system, the CSA said.

And a "substantial" amount of the arrears are also estimated, meaning the cash owed could be reduced if parents provide different details.

The UK's child maintenance system is provided by the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, which is the body responsible for the child maintenance system in Great Britain.

The Commission's role is to promote financial responsibility for children and help direct the CSA.

A spokesman for Commission said some parents take extreme action to avoid their responsibility.

The 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, nor do we write off accumulated arrears.