Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

What plans the Government has to increase compliance with child maintenance responsibilities.

The Child Maintenance Service has wide ranging powers to enforce the collection of both ongoing child maintenance liability and arrears.

We publish regular information about this activity which shows for example, increasing use of the Financial Investigation Unit with over 1000 more complex earner investigations referred this year compared with last.

We recently consulted on a new Compliance and Arrears Strategy with the aim of increasing these powers. The Government’s response to this consultation will be published later this summer.