Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will bring forward proposals to ensure that parents who are making child support payments to the Child Maintenance Service are not charged for the Collect and Pay service, where all reasonable attempts are made by the two parties to use the Direct Pay service.

The 30 month review, which will consider the impact of fees and charging will be complete by the end of 2016 and findings from the review will be published in early 2017.

Where parents are able to agree, a Direct Pay arrangement means that collection charges can be avoided. Where this is not possible, it is vital that the Collect and Pay service remains available where the Child Maintenance Service collect and administer the payments on the parents’ behalf – and for that service to be subject to charges provides an incentive for parents to make Direct Pay work where they can.