Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what protections are in place within the Child Maintenance Service to support parents and children experiencing financial abuse.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) takes the issue of domestic abuse extremely seriously and recognises that domestic abuse can take many forms including physical, emotional, or financial abuse, violent or threatening behaviour and coercive control.

CMS has procedures to ensure victims and survivors can use the service safely. All caseworkers receive training to identify abuse and signpost parents to specialist domestic abuse organisations where needed.

A Specialist Case Team manages the most complex cases, reducing the need for victims to repeat their experiences and ensuring tailored support for vulnerable customers.

For Direct Pay cases, CMS can act as an intermediary to exchange bank details, preventing any unwanted contact between parents. CMS can also advise on secure bank accounts with centralised sort codes to reduce the risk of location being traced.

The Government's intention remains to remove Direct Pay and move to a single service in which CMS collects and transfers all payments. This will remove the need for victims and survivors to provide evidence of domestic abuse and eliminate direct contact between parents. CMS will monitor all payments and act swiftly where payments fail, helping to tackle non-compliance and better support victims and survivors. We intend to implement these changes as soon as parliamentary time allows.