Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of child maintenance service cases are being dealt with by the specialist domestic abuse caseworker team.

The Child Maintenance Service takes the issue of domestic abuse extremely seriously and is committed to ensuring victims of abuse get the help and support they need to access and use the service safely and securely.

CMS caseworkers are provided with domestic abuse training to ensure they understand, recognise and respond safely and appropriately to customers who are experiencing domestic abuse, or are survivors of domestic abuse. In July 2024, the training was updated with input from external stakeholders, and covers different types of abuse, including economic, post-separation, coercive and controlling behaviour.

Specialist Case Team is one of the measures CMS have introduced to manage cases with the most challenging or complex domestic abuse concerns. This has minimised the need for parents to recount their history of domestic abuse and caseworkers to deliver support to some of the most vulnerable customers.

As of February 2025, the volume of cases in the Specialist Case Team was 301, this equates to 0.04% of CMS total customer caseload.