CHILDREN are being put at risk, charities said yesterday, as coalition ministers prepared to launch their latest cash-cow yesterday — creaming off the top of child support payments.

As the Star reported yesterday, separated parents now face a £20 application fee to seek help from the coalition’s new Child Maintenance Service in negotiating payments from an absent parent.

But the up-front fee is not all. Next month the agency will begin charging resident parents a 4 per cent commission on their children’s maintenance payments while the non-resident parent will themselves face an extra 20 per cent levy on top of their payments.