Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Bill

Sally-Ann Hart Excerpts

Friday 3rd March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

I thank my hon. Friend, the Minister for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression for moving these important Government amendments. I was delighted to co-sign them. These new amendments will allow for the provisions in the Bill to include Northern Ireland. That will mean that domestic abuse victims, not just in our English constituencies, but throughout the United Kingdom, will benefit from the measures in this Bill. I am sure that all Members here today can recognise the importance of that.

The Minister has assured me that officials will be working closely with legal colleagues and the other Administrations across the United Kingdom to ensure that the provisions are implemented effectively. I thank all Members for joining me here today and for their support of this Bill.

[Paul Howell (Sedgefield) (Con)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Sally-Ann Hart) for bringing this Bill before the House to address such an important issue. I expect that problems with the Child Maintenance Service and domestic abuse are some of the most universal and least partisan that my colleagues and I encounter in the course of our work.

As we know, domestic abuse is not limited to any particular group—anyone can be a victim. At the same time, it is helpful to recognise that the economic impact of domestic abuse is particularly severe for single mothers, who make up 90% of single-parent households, and whose opportunities to work may be limited by childcare. A study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that pre-pandemic, nearly half the children in single-parent households were living in poverty. Single parents are likely therefore to need childcare payments, because of the considerable costs associated with raising children, yet those who experience domestic abuse can find themselves still vulnerable to abusive behaviour through the structure of the CMS. Last year, the Public Accounts Committee concluded in its report on the CMS that the system is not—

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[Sally-Ann Hart]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

As many hon. Members heard me say on Second Reading, I emphasise that this Bill is an important measure for victims of domestic abuse who use the Child Maintenance Service. I am proud, delighted and grateful that it is being taken forward and has the support of the Government, as confirmed by the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Tom Pursglove) on Second Reading, and reconfirmed in Committee by the Minister for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Sussex (Mims Davies). I am pleased that she is here again today on behalf of the Government, and thank her profusely for her support and the support she has shown throughout the progression of the Bill.

Moving on to developments that have occurred since the Bill was in Committee, I am delighted that the independent review of the ways in which the CMS supports victims of domestic abuse has now been published, alongside the Government’s responses to its recommendations. Many of my hon. Friends highlighted that review on Second Reading and in Committee, so I am pleased that it has now been progressed. The Bill will strengthen support for domestic abuse victims by ensuring that victims of domestic abuse, who are overwhelmingly women, are able to avoid entirely any need to engage with the other parent if there is evidence of abuse, helping to make them as safe as possible when using the Child Maintenance Service. These proposals give victims of domestic abuse choice—another avenue to aid their escape and removal from an abusive partner or environment, while ensuring that victims have more protection than was previously the case.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

I am delighted to be here today, as I was when the Bill was in Committee. As constituency MPs, I think we all know the issues that the CMS presents when domestic abuse is involved. Indeed, I have a constituent whose children are grown up, but who still has moneys outstanding as a result of the coercive control of domestic abuse, and her ex-partner still utilises that fact. I welcome my hon. Friend’s Bill, and hope very much that its provisions will help prevent those kinds of long-term abusive ongoing relationships.

[Sally-Ann Hart]

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention, and completely agree with her. I am absolutely confident that the Bill will help prevent those sorts of long-term coercive and abusive behaviours that many women and children have had to put up with over the years.

I reiterate how pleased I was to see the independent review published during the Bill’s passage, which makes a recommendation to do just what this Bill is advocating. The Bill will amend primary legislation to allow victims of domestic abuse to use the collect and pay service where there is evidence of domestic abuse against the requesting parent by the other party to the case, who could be the paying or the receiving parent, or even against children in their households by the other parent involved in the case. I am pleased that MPs from across the House agree on the importance of this Bill, as it is a key move to help deal with a more masked form of domestic abuse: financial abuse and coercion. The Bill also removes the additional threat of emotional abuse that can occur if direct pay is used.

By way of a reminder, the Child Maintenance Service aids the payment process of child maintenance between separated parents who cannot reach an agreement on their own following a separation—a challenging job done in very difficult circumstances. I am sure we all recognise that for some separated parents, it will be really difficult to co-operate, especially where there might have been a history of abuse. Once parents are in the system, the Child Maintenance Service manages child maintenance cases through one of two service types: direct pay and collect and pay. For direct pay, the CMS provides a calculation and a payment schedule, but payments are arranged privately between the two parents. For collect and pay, the CMS calculates the maintenance payment and then collects the money from the paying parent and pays it to the receiving parent. Current legislation means that the default option is direct pay, unless both parents agree to collect and pay or the paying parent demonstrates an unwillingness to pay their liability. The Bill will extend the option of collect and pay without the other parent’s consent if domestic abuse is evident, regardless of the payment history.

I know that the CMS already has safeguards for victims of domestic abuse. It ensures that there is no unwanted contact between parents, and in order for parents to use direct pay safely, it provides information on how they can set up a bank account with a centralised sort code so that they cannot be traced to a specific location. I reiterate that I am pleased that the provisions in the Bill will now include Northern Ireland, so that domestic abuse victims throughout the United Kingdom will benefit.

Finally, I thank all the women in my constituency and throughout the United Kingdom who have emailed me describing the horror of the coercive and controlling behaviour that many of their former partners have shown towards them over the years. They wanted to pour out what had happened to them. I very much hope—indeed, I am confident—that the Bill will prevent many more women and children from going through the trauma of coercive financial abuse in the coming years. I hope that all hon. Members agree that the Bill is worthy of our support, and I look forward to seeing it progress through the other House.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Sir Roger Gale)]

I apologise to the hon. Gentleman for calling him prematurely.

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[Sally-Ann Hart]

With the leave of the House, I will take this opportunity to praise and thank the Minister and hon. Members on both sides of the House for their work and support throughout the process. I extend my appreciation and huge thanks to the Public Bill Office and the officials from the Department for Work and Pensions for their guidance and support, for which I am truly grateful. The support on both sides of the House further proves the overwhelming necessity for the Bill. The need to continue the Government’s essential work to protect women and children, predominantly, from falling victim to domestic abuse is vital. Through the Bill, more protection will be given to some of the most vulnerable in our society.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Sedgefield (Paul Howell) for his moving contribution, including on the need for the CMS to keep a forensic eye on the paying parent’s earnings to stop them wriggling out of paying. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Anthony Browne), who highlighted his concerns.

I thank the hon. Member for Lewisham, Deptford (Vicky Foxcroft) for her kind words in support of the Bill. I agree that the 4% fee should be waived for victims, but I stress how important it is to get the Bill through Parliament unhindered as soon as possible. I am confident that that matter and the others that she raised are being considered by the relevant Departments and I welcome the Minister’s assurances on that. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Barrow and Furness (Simon Fell), who stressed the importance of parents looking after their children financially, and my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby (Lia Nici) for her contribution.

Getting children and families right—strengthening families—is vital for our communities, for my beautiful constituency of Hastings and Rye, and for our wider society. The Bill will strengthen the support that domestic abuse victims are offered when using the CMS by allowing them to decide what service type is best for their child maintenance case and their circumstances. I wish it success as it moves to the other House.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.