ABSENT parents owe more than £11 million in unpaid child maintenance across Wanstead and Woodford, new research has found.

A report published by the single parent charity Gingerbread has found that across three constituencies – Leyton and Wanstead, Chingford and Woodford Green, and Ilford North - £11,853,000 is still due in outstanding payments, as of March this year.

The highest of these was Leyton and Wanstead, with £4,259,000 owed to single parents, while in Ilford North the figure was £3,807,000.

In Chingford and Woodford Green – whose MP Iain Duncan Smith was recently appointed secretary of state for work and pensions for the coalition government – the figure stood at £3,787,000.

None of the constituencies were in the top 10 for the UK, which showed some had more than £10 million in outstanding payments.