Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of enforcement, including the recovery rate following (a) liability orders, (b) bailiff action and (c) deduction orders.

The Department monitors the effectiveness of Child Maintenance Service (CMS) enforcement processes to ensure compliance and support the collection of maintenance owed to children.

The information requested on assessments of the effectiveness of individual enforcement routes, including recovery rates is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

However, the Department publishes Child Maintenance Service (CMS) statistics regularly, and the latest statistics on enforcement actions taken by CMS, including the amount of money collected, are available for September 2025 in the latest data tables.

‘Table 6.1: Enforcement Actions, Great Britain, April 2015 to September 2025’ provides information on the amounts recovered and actions taken by CMS, including sanctions and other Civil Enforcement actions.

Please refer to the ‘Notes’ provided below the tables and the ‘Child Maintenance Service statistics: background information and methodology’ document for further detail and guidance on interpretation.