support payments by several days.

Magistrates' Court administrator Tracey Kelly said the payments system would be back to normal by tomorrow. He said the delays began when a new software package to avoid Millennium Bug problems was installed on February 19.

He apologised to mothers waiting for support payments. Their cheques should arrive the day after being processed. Several mothers rang The Royal Gazette to complain, one claiming she had received no payment for seven weeks.

But Mr. Kelly said no cheques -- taken straight from weekly or monthly pay -- were seven weeks late.

He added: "There could be any number of reasons why a payment is several weeks late but it's nothing to do with the computer errors at Magistrates Court.''