Can a support recipient sue directly in court instead of going through the Family Responsibility Office?

Whether a recipient can pursue enforcement outside the Family Responsibility Office depends significantly on how the support obligation was created and whether it's registered with FRO. Where an order or agreement is registered with FRO, enforcement generally runs through FRO's own tools rather than the recipient separately suing in court for the same arrears, since FRO exists specifically to handle this kind of collection on the recipient's behalf. That said, court processes, such as a default hearing or other motions, remain part of how the underlying dispute can still reach a judge when needed.

For a recipient who feels FRO's enforcement isn't moving quickly enough, or who has an order that isn't registered with FRO at all, understanding exactly what options exist, and which route is actually available given how their support was set up, matters more than assuming one path or the other automatically applies. Because the interaction between FRO's process and a recipient's own court options is technical, getting legal advice on the right path for a specific case is worthwhile before assuming you either must, or cannot, act independently of FRO.