Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the Child Maintenance Service provides proof, if requested, of calculations of collection fees.

The Department is committed to ensuring transparency in the operation of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).

The CMS provides two service types: Direct Pay, where parents arrange payments between themselves, and Collect and Pay, where the CMS calculates the liability and manages the transfer of funds. Collection fees only apply to the Collect and Pay service. A fee of 20% is added to what the paying parent needs to pay, while 4% is deducted from maintenance paid to receiving parents.

For cases on the Collect and Pay service, details of what collection fees apply and how they are calculated are included in notifications sent to customers whenever there is a change to their child maintenance calculation. Customers can also view additional information about their payments and child maintenance calculation by accessing their online Child Maintenance account.