Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many times the Child Maintenance Service has identified inaccurate financial disclosures of the paying parent via HM Revenue and Customs; and in those cases, (1) how many times was enforcement action taken, and (2) how much maintenance was collected as a result.

The department does not hold information on the number of inaccurate financial disclosures of the paying parent via HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). CMS take steps to ensure the child maintenance case is accurate prior to taking any enforcement actions.

The department legally relies on data from HMRC and its own benefits data to assess people’s earned income and benefit status, which are key parts of the maintenance calculation. This makes it difficult for most parents to misstate their income. The receiving parent can also ask the Department to consider the paying parent’s more complex earnings, such as unearned income, which are more vulnerable to fraud and error.

To ensure calculations are accurate the department continues to build on its already proportionate and cost-effective controls, such as:

• a dedicated Financial Investigation Unit who address allegations of misrepresentation and fraud

• use of verified income from HMRC and benefit systems as outlined in legislation and a principal part of service design.

• use of child benefit systems to verify qualifying child(ren)

• procedures and policy to request additional verification

• a robust mandatory consideration and appeals process.

The Financial Investigation Unit conduct investigations into potential criminal offences linked to Child Maintenance such as DNA testing fraud and providing false income information to the department, this can result in prosecution through Crown Prosecution Service.

The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service and the latest statistics are available up to June 2024. Table 7: Financial Investigations Unit Actions, Great Britain, April 2017 to June 2024, in the latest National Tables, does provide the available information on investigations into potential criminal offences, such as DNA testing fraud and providing false income information.