Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the risk that, as a result of GDPR constraints, parents using the Child Maintenance Service are left unable to understand why their maintenance payments have changed.

The Department provides guidance and training to staff on the handling and disclosure of personal information, with mandatory training refreshed annually.

Child Maintenance Service (CMS) staff are required to comply with both data protection and child support legislation when explaining decisions to customers. Parents are provided with sufficient information to understand how their child maintenance liability has been calculated and to exercise their rights to request a Mandatory Reconsideration or appeal where appropriate. Under Regulation 25 of the Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012, CMS is required to issue both parents with a Notification of Maintenance Calculation. This sets out the information used to determine the maintenance calculation, including the paying parent's gross weekly income.

Staff are trained to explain decisions clearly while ensuring that any disclosure of personal information is necessary, proportionate and compliant with data protection legislation. Information relating to another parent may only be disclosed where there is a lawful basis to do so and where it is necessary to explain how a maintenance calculation has been made or why a decision has been taken.

Through these arrangements, the Department seeks to ensure that parents are able to understand changes to their child maintenance liability and the reasons for decisions affecting their case, while maintaining appropriate protections for personal information.