Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2024 to Question 15843 on Child Maintenance Service: Courts, how many liability orders have been (a) applied for by the Child Maintenance Service and (b) granted by the courts in each of the last three years.

In response to question (a) the Child Maintenance Service applied for approximately;

• 17,800 liability orders between October 2023 and September 2024,
• 15,100 liability orders between October 2022 and September 2023, and
• 11,300 liability orders between October 2021 and September 2022.

In response to question (b) the courts granted;

• 15,300 liability orders between October 2023 and September 2024,
• 13,600 liability orders between October 2022 and September 2023, and
• 10,000 liability orders between October 2021 and September 2022.

(Please note that the figures exclude Scotland).

The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service Child Maintenance Service statistics: data to September 2024 - GOV.UK. Please see Tables no. 6.1, Rows 21 and 22 for more information on liability orders. national-tables-child-maintenance-service-to-september-2024.ods