Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what consideration his Department has given to reducing administration for parents of children with SEND when applying for Disability Living Allowance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We regularly consider the impact of our processes for Disability Living Allowance on our customers, including parents of children with Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND).
We have not identified a disproportionate impact of requiring applications to be submitted by post on families of children with SEND. We offer Parent/Guardians a 6 week window to complete the form and return it, to maintain the date of claim, as well as extending the window in relevant extenuating circumstances. We continue to explore opportunities to modernise the service.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to improve the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service in (a) identifying non-compliance and (b) taking enforcement action to tackle non-compliance.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 3 March 2026 to question number UIN: 114271
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the extent to which administrative errors by the Child Maintenance Service contribute to the creation of incorrect arrears; and what steps his Department is taking to rectify such cases.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to providing timely, transparent, and accurate information to parents. To support this, CMS uses proportionate controls to ensure calculation accuracy, including verified income from HMRC and Child Benefit systems, dedicated verification processes, and a three tier quality framework. These measures help minimise administrative and calculation errors that could otherwise contribute to incorrect arrears being created.
Where CMS identifies—either through its internal checks or following a parent’s challenge—that a single accidental error relating to the maintenance calculation has occurred, it can apply a correction without requiring a full Mandatory Reconsideration (MR), provided the challenge is raised within legislative timescales. The CMS also operates a liability schedule which acts as the authoritative record of assessed liability, payments received, and arrears, ensuring over‑ and under‑payments are correctly reconciled.
All calculation decisions may be challenged through the MR process, which allows a parent to request a review before appealing to His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. During MR, CMS reassesses the decision and considers any new information; where an error is confirmed, the decision is revised accordingly.
Through the Service Modernisation Programme, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has strengthened accuracy and communication by introducing enhanced digital tools, clearer written communications, expanded use of SMS and email, and greater self‑service functionality. These improvements, including automated processing of simple case updates through My Child Maintenance Case (MCMC), enable parents to access and update case information 24/7, improve accuracy, reduce administrative errors, and speed up changes.
The Department rigorously monitors accuracy and continues to meet the National Audit Office (NAO) monetary error target of under 1%, ensuring robust oversight of error rates and arrears calculations.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Department plans to review the legislative approach to the frozen pensions policy, including the option of presenting it in a form that enables routine parliamentary debate and vote.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Social Security Benefits Up-rating Regulations 2026 are consequential on the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2026.
The regulations are subject to the negative procedure and are therefore only subject to Parliamentary debate if one is sought and granted. They were laid on 6 March 2026 and will come into force on the same date as the Up-rating Order on 6 April 2026. This is a convention that has been in place for a number of years.