Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data her Department holds on the number of people eligible for child maintenance who are not claiming it.

It is estimated that at the financial year ending 2023, there are 2.4 million separated families in Great Britain and 3.8 million children in those families. 41% of these did not have either a statutory arrangement with the Child Maintenance Service or a private arrangement.

At the end of June 2024, the Child Maintenance Service was managing 744,000 arrangements for 675,000 Paying Parents, the number of arrangements has increased by 10% since the end of June 2023.

Legislation to remove the £20 application fee was introduced in February 2024, removing a financial barrier to parents wishing to access the CMS.

Get Help Arranging Child Maintenance is an online service that provides free information and support to help parents make decisions about CM and make a CMS application if they choose to.