Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of trends in changes in waiting times for cases initially to be assigned at the Pensions Ombudsman over the past two years.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Waiting times for cases to be initially assigned at The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) have increased over the past two years, primarily due to sustained growth in demand, alongside a backlog of complex cases. TPO has implemented an Operating Model Review to improve efficiency and throughput, which has increased case closures and begun to stabilise waiting times.
However, waiting times for assignment, particularly for more complex cases, remain longer than desired.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on average waiting times for (a) cases to be assigned and (b) decisions by the Pensions Ombudsman.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department does not centrally publish formal averages for case allocation or final decisions by the Pensions Ombudsman (TPO). However, TPO’s latest performance updates indicate that waiting times remain significant due to sustained demand. Recent data shows cases can wait around 15 months to be allocated at assessment stage and up to 18 months for adjudication in more complex cases.
For all closures delivered in 2025/26 the average length of time from case creation to closure was 8 months.
The Department is working closely with TPO, including providing additional funding and supporting its Operating Model Review programme, to improve efficiency and reduce waiting times.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Operating Model Review in reducing waiting times at The Pensions Ombudsman over the past year.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Pensions Ombudsman’s (TPO) Operating Model Review (OMR) has delivered record case closures in both 2024/25 and 2025/26.
Key changes introduced through the OMR include ensuring that individuals complete the formal complaints process with their pension provider before approaching TPO; introducing expedited decision-making that closes cases with clear outcomes earlier in the process, reducing waiting times in these cases by as much as 18 months; and adopting a lead case approach where a structural issue with a pension scheme affects multiple members.
By continuing to implement operational innovations and utilising new resource from DWP, TPO will sustain its efforts to reduce case waiting times, which I recognise remain too long.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that child maintenance calculations adequately reflect disparities in parents' earning, regardless of custody arrangements.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives in. The maintenance calculation is intended to represent what a parent would pay for their child if they lived with them. We assume that in the event of a disparity in parental income, parents will each still spend the same proportion of their income on their child(ren) - but one parent will bear a greater amount of the overall spending on the children where their income is higher. The income of the receiving parent is therefore not included as they are already providing as the child’s primary care giver and therefore spending the amount they would if the parents lived together.
If a parent feels that a decision taken by the Child Maintenance Service is incorrect, they can ask it to look at the decision again. This is known as a mandatory reconsideration.
The CMS is aware that paying parents can face difficulties when attempting to spend meaningful time with their child following separation. Issues relating to access and contact are managed by family courts, however, reductions can be made for the extra cost of care where it is shared by the paying parent. The paying parent must have overnight care of any qualifying children for at least 52 nights a year, equivalent of 1 night per week. The amount payable is reduced by a maximum of fifty percent within bands based on the number of nights overnight care is provided over a 12-month period. The bands are used to give greater stability to maintenance payments and as a result there is greater reliability of payments, which contributes towards the welfare of the children in the case.
If evidence shows that both parties are providing equal day-to-day care of a qualifying child, in addition to sharing overnight care, there is no requirement for either parent to pay child maintenance.
The Government is conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose. This includes updating the underlying research and considering how to ensure the calculation reflects current and future societal trends.
Options for proposed reforms are currently being considered. Any changes made to the child maintenance calculation will be subject to extensive public consultation, and if made, will require amendments to legislation so would be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the light-touch review process for PIP claimants with ongoing awards will be included in future reviews of PIP reassessment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
In the Pathways to Work Green Paper we announced plans to launch a review of the PIP assessment, which I shall lead. To make sure we get this right, we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details about the scope of the review as plans progress.
In the meantime, we also set out in the Green Paper that we are exploring ways to improve our communication with people receiving ongoing awards in PIP who are expected to remain on disability benefits for life. We are considering improvements to the information we provide when we write to people about an ongoing award decision, what support is offered to people receiving ongoing awards between ‘light touch’ reviews and looking at the length of time between ‘light touch’ reviews.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to prevent the child maintenance system being used as a tool of financial abuse.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government have recently consulted on proposed reforms to manage all CMS cases in one service allowing the CMS to automatically identify missed, late and partial payments. This will provide greater protection from financial abuse. Responses to consultation are currently under consideration.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service in securing maintenance from paying parents.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A principle of child maintenance is to increase levels of cooperation between separated parents and encourage parents to meet their responsibilities to provide their children with financial support. Where a family-based child maintenance arrangement is not suitable the Child Maintenance Service offers a statutory scheme for those parents who need it.
The Government is dedicated to ensuring parents meet their obligations to children and the Child Maintenance Service will do everything within its powers to make sure parents comply. Where parents fail to pay their child maintenance, the Service will not hesitate to use its enforcement powers, including deductions from earnings orders, removal of driving licences, disqualification from holding a passport, and committal to prison. The Service is committed to using these powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families.
Statistics on child maintenance arrangements and collections are part of the CMS quarterly statistics published on gov.uk in tables 4, 5 and 6 of the National Tables. The below information is from the latest publication for data up to March 2024.
o £224.9 million was paid
o £91.9 million was unpaid
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to review the Child Maintenance Service's treatment of income from foreign assets held by paying parents.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Income, including income from assets as well as earned income, needs to be declared to the UK tax authorities and subject to UK tax in order to be included in the maintenance calculation.
The Government is now considering next steps on the child maintenance service.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has plans to review the Child Maintenance Service's treatment of income from foreign assets held by paying parents.
Answered by Paul Maynard
To calculate a child maintenance liability, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) uses gross income information provided by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for the latest available full tax year. A variation application can be made by either parent to include income from certain assets including property that is subject to tax in the UK.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the capability of the Pensions Ombudsman in meeting service demand within the Office's existing levels of funding.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The Department works closely with TPO and so recognises the pressures increasing demand for its services has brought. This is why, as part of the 2021 Spending Review, the Department has committed additional funding of over £3 million to TPO (2022/23 to 2024/25), to enable it to improve its operating model and better manage service demand. The requirement for further additional funding will be kept under review.