Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to (a) improve enforcement and (b) reduce the number of non-payments for child maintenance.

Most payments where a parent is unwilling to pay are collected regardless, via either a deduction from earning order (DEO) or a deduction from benefit. Only where these options are not available are other mechanisms needed.

Nevertheless, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring all separated parents within the statutory scheme support their children financially, taking robust enforcement action against those who do not.

If someone chooses not to pay their maintenance themselves, the CMS has administrative powers which means CMS officials can deduct maintenance directly from a paying parent’s wages, from their bank account, or from their benefits.

The CMS has a range of strong enforcement powers that can be used against those who consistently refuse to meet their obligations to provide financial support to their children including deducting directly from earnings, bank accounts and forcing the sale of a property.

The Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 proposed regulations to support the introduction of administrative liability orders (ALOs), removing the requirement to obtain a court issued liability order. Introducing this process should enable the CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities and get money to children more quickly. We are working with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Government to establish a process for implementing ALOs and plan to introduce regulations to Parliament as soon as possible.