Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what period of time parents who were formerly in receipt of Child Support Agency maintenance via that agency's collection service will experience a gap in child maintenance payments before their new applications to the Child Maintenance Service made within the six-month notice period are processed and a new payment schedule notified to the paying parent.

The Government has committed to minimise disruption for those parents who wish to continue using the statutory service. We will guarantee that if parents choose to apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), and apply before the liability on their Child Support Agency (CSA) case ends, the underlying requirement to pay will continue through to their new case in the CMS.