Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking through the Child Maintenance Service to ensure that receiving parents and their children are adequately financially supported when paying parents (a) decide not to return to work after maternity leave to save on childcare costs and (b) take other decisions that forgo income due to their personal circumstances.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The maintenance calculation is designed to be affordable and sustainable for paying parents, while ensuring they contribute a reasonable amount to support their children.
Calculations are based on a percentage of the Paying Parent’s gross weekly income received directly from HM Revenue & Customs. This includes taxable income from employment and can take account of certain unearned income, including from dividends, property income and savings.
Where a paying parent’s income reduces due to not returning to work after maternity leave or due to a change in their personal circumstances, and this change means their income decreases by at least 25%, the calculation will then be reassessed.
Whilst the 1991 Child Support Act puts a legal obligation on all parents to support their children regardless of their financial situation. Under the 2012 Child Maintenance Scheme, an individual with income of less than £7 will generally have a “nil” liability.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Child Maintenance Service has made of the potential merits of reducing the threshold for unearned income for paying parents from £2,500 to £1,000 in line with HMRC’s annual tax-free allowance.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The threshold for unearned income was originally set at £2,500 to ensure that this represented a significant source of a paying parent’s total annual income. This ensures that minor changes in unearned income do not interfere with the efficiency of the system, increasing costs for the taxpayer.
A review is currently ongoing to look at the child maintenance calculation to ensure it is fit for purpose. Unearned income, including the current threshold, falls within the scope of this review.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the Child Maintenance Service to calculate a paying parent's liability using their household income rather than their individual income.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including contributing to their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives in. The calculation represents an amount of money that is broadly commensurate with the amount that a paying parent would spend on the child if they were still living with them.
The CMS will assess how much the paying parent should pay the receiving parent, which in most cases is based on a percentage of the paying parent's gross annual income, before tax and national insurance but after pension contributions. This can also include income from certain assets, savings and investment such as dividends or property income. Income from other members of the household is not considered as they have no financial responsibility for the qualifying child.
The income of the receiving parent is not taken into consideration as they are already contributing as the child's primary caregiver and their income should not remove the responsibility of a paying parent to support their child.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Child Maintenance Service has made of the potential merits of ensuring that both parents are equally liable for childcare costs.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including contributing to their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives in. The calculation represents an amount of money that is broadly commensurate with the amount that a paying parent would spend on the child if they were still living with them.
The CMS will assess how much the paying parent should pay the receiving parent, which in most cases is based on a percentage of the paying parent's gross annual income, before tax and national insurance but after pension contributions. This can also include income from certain assets, savings and investment such as dividends or property income. Income from other members of the household is not considered as they have no financial responsibility for the qualifying child.
The income of the receiving parent is not taken into consideration as they are already contributing as the child's primary caregiver and their income should not remove the responsibility of a paying parent to support their child.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that parents are not able to avoid (a) Child Maintenance liability and (b) Deduction of Earning Orders by changing employment.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where parents frequently change employment, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) can use alternative powers such as deducting child maintenance directly from their bank account. The CMS has a range of strong enforcement options that are designed to get money flowing quickly, prevent the build-up of arrears and ensure children get the financial support they deserve. Upon changing employer, the child maintenance liability will remain unaffected unless there is also a change to income which is greater than 25%.
The Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 delivered primary legislation to accelerate the enforcement process. The changes seek to introduce a simpler administrative process to obtain a liability order against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities, enabling the CMS to take faster enforcement action. We will monitor the effectiveness of this.
The CMS has a relatively low percentage of unpaid maintenance. Only 8% of the total maintenance due to be paid since the start of the CMS remains to be collected through the collect & pay service. This was as high as 17% in March 2015.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to improve the success of enforcement measures taken by the Child Maintenance Service on non-paying parents.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where parents frequently change employment, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) can use alternative powers such as deducting child maintenance directly from their bank account. The CMS has a range of strong enforcement options that are designed to get money flowing quickly, prevent the build-up of arrears and ensure children get the financial support they deserve. Upon changing employer, the child maintenance liability will remain unaffected unless there is also a change to income which is greater than 25%.
The Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 delivered primary legislation to accelerate the enforcement process. The changes seek to introduce a simpler administrative process to obtain a liability order against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities, enabling the CMS to take faster enforcement action. We will monitor the effectiveness of this.
The CMS has a relatively low percentage of unpaid maintenance. Only 8% of the total maintenance due to be paid since the start of the CMS remains to be collected through the collect & pay service. This was as high as 17% in March 2015.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether clause 128 and schedule 11 of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill would apply (a) only to recipients of Pension Credit and (b) to all recipients of the State Pension.
Answered by Paul Maynard
Fraud is a growing problem across the economy, accounting for over 40% of all crime and the welfare system is not immune to this. Although down by 10% in 2022-23, £8.3bn was overpaid in fraud and error last year in the benefit system and it is vital that the Government takes measures to see that fall further so the right support is provided to the right people.
The DWP third-party data gathering measure, contained in the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, will give the department better access to relevant data which will help us identify fraud and error in the system. We expect this to save up to £600m in the next five years.
The proposed powers cover all DWP benefits, grants and other DWP payments as set out in paragraph 16 of the schedule. This is to ensure that, where fraud and error arises, the Department has the power to address it. The power does not, however, give DWP access to millions of pensioners’ bank accounts, either those claiming the State Pension or Pension Credit. What this power does is require third parties to look within their own data and provide relevant information to DWP that may signal where some DWP claimants may not meet the eligibility criteria for the benefit they are receiving. This data may signal fraud or error and require a further review by DWP – through business-as-usual processes - to determine whether wrongful payments are being made. No personal information will be shared by DWP with third parties and only the minimum amount of information on those in receipt of DWP payments will be provided by banks to the Department to enable us to make further enquiries.
In 2022/33, £100m was overpaid in the State Pension and £330m was overpaid in the Pension Credit. This compares to over £5,540m that was overpaid in Universal Credit. Only those people flagged as potentially being ineligible for the support they are receiving would be flagged through this measure and we are clear we will focus the powers in areas where there is a significant and pressing fraud and error challenge. In the first instance, we will be focusing the use of this power within Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance and Pension Credit
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Angus constituency did not receive the second Cost of Living Payment due to receiving a nil award during the relevant Universal Credit assessment period.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
In line with the code of practice, the number of Cost of Living Payments made to recipients of a specific benefit is the subject of an upcoming statistical release, and cannot be released before that publication is ready, subject to usual quality assurance.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Angus constituency did not receive the first Cost of Living Payment due to receiving a nil award during the relevant Universal Credit assessment period.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
In line with the code of practice, the number of Cost of Living Payments made to recipients of a specific benefit is the subject of an upcoming statistical release, and cannot be released before that publication is ready, subject to usual quality assurance.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Universal Credit claimants in Angus constituency are paid by their employers on a non-monthly cycle.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The requested information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.