Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many parents used the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to make payments in the last year; and how many parents resolved maintenance issues themselves after CMS support.

Information on the number of case groups contributing towards their current liability with the Child Maintenance Service are published on Table 5 of the Child Maintenance Service Experimental Statistics, which contains data up until November 2016.The Publication can be accessed online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/2012-statutory-child-maintenance-scheme-aug-2013-to-nov-2016-experimental

A case group consists of all the cases associated with a paying parent. Note that the figures for casegroups contributing towards current liability are based on the assumption that paying parents on Direct Pay are fully contributing to current liability.

Information on the number of parents, who resolved maintenance issues themselves after CMS support, is planned for release in the next CMS 2012 Scheme publication which will be available at the following link.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-the-2012-statutory-child-maintenance-scheme

The release date will be pre-announced in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.