Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Child Maintenance Service is meeting its internal target times for progressing cases and taking enforcement action.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to providing a modern and efficient service for all customers.
The CMS continues to strengthen its enforcement activity to ensure that parents meet their financial responsibilities. Where parents can afford to pay but do not, the CMS has a range of strong enforcement powers that it can and does use swiftly to influence a return to compliance.
Published statistics show a significant increase in compliance, with the proportion of paying parents who paid some maintenance rising from 64% in the quarter ending September 2022 to 74% in the quarter ending September 2025.
The published quarterly CMS statistics provide information on application clearances, change of circumstances clearances and Collect and Pay compliance, with the latest data available for quarter ending September 2025.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of delays in Child Maintenance Service case reviews on the likelihood of later corrective or enforcement action.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) relies on receiving accurate and current information to make child maintenance assessments. If additional or new evidence is provided after a child maintenance assessment has been made for example a Mandatory Reconsideration this can lead to corrective action being taken.
As more customers apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) the demand for the service is increasing. To allow the CMS to meet this demand and provide an efficient service the service continuously looks at the resources they have and where it should focus their efforts to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to their customers.
The CMS reviews overall resource supply and takes appropriate steps to ensure that staffing levels meet current demands. The CMS has an ongoing recruitment campaign for 2026; this will ensure the CMS is resourced to meet current and future forecasted demand.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of delays in Child Maintenance Service case reviews on administrative costs.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) relies on receiving accurate and current information to make child maintenance assessments. If additional or new evidence is provided after a child maintenance assessment has been made for example a Mandatory Reconsideration this can lead to corrective action being taken.
As more customers apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) the demand for the service is increasing. To allow the CMS to meet this demand and provide an efficient service the service continuously looks at the resources they have and where it should focus their efforts to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to their customers.
The CMS reviews overall resource supply and takes appropriate steps to ensure that staffing levels meet current demands. The CMS has an ongoing recruitment campaign for 2026; this will ensure the CMS is resourced to meet current and future forecasted demand.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of delays by the Child Maintenance Service on (a) parents and (b) children who rely on child maintenance payments.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We know that children in separated families are more likely to live in poverty than those in non-separated families. Child maintenance payments through both statutory and non-statutory arrangements keep approximately 120,000 children out of poverty each year.
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) works hard to make sure parents pay in full and on time to minimise delays in payments.
Where parents fail to take responsibility for paying for their children, the CMS will not hesitate to use the range enforcement powers available. The CMS is committed to using these powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families. CMS has implemented significant improvements to speed up action when payments first break down, targeting enforcement actions more effectively.
CMS undertake regular quality assurance checks to ensure processes are delivered accurately, reducing the requirement for rework and reinforcing our aim to ‘get it right first time’. These measures demonstrate our commitment to minimising delays and ensuring that child maintenance reaches children promptly.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of staffing levels and caseload pressures within the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As more customers apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) the demand for its service is increasing. To allow it to meet this demand and provide an efficient service, the CMS continuously reviews its resources and where to focus its efforts to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to customers.
The CMS reviews its overall resource supply and takes appropriate steps to ensure that staffing levels meet current demands. The service is currently resourced at a level appropriate to its operational demand, ensuring that support is directed to the teams and functions where it is most needed.
There is an ongoing recruitment campaign for 2026; this will ensure CMS continues to be resourced to meet current and future forecast demand.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will provide additional resources to the Child Maintenance Service to reduce delays in case progression.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As more customers apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) the demand for its service is increasing. To allow it to meet this demand and provide an efficient service, the CMS continuously reviews its resources and where to focus its efforts to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to customers.
The CMS reviews its overall resource supply and takes appropriate steps to ensure that staffing levels meet current demands. The service is currently resourced at a level appropriate to its operational demand, ensuring that support is directed to the teams and functions where it is most needed.
There is an ongoing recruitment campaign for 2026; this will ensure CMS continues to be resourced to meet current and future forecast demand.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to tackle and identify economic abuse in the welfare system to support victims and survivors.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is committed to safeguarding vulnerable individuals and preventing economic abuse within the welfare system. Front line staff receive mandatory domestic abuse training, including economic abuse. Specialist training is provided for teams such as Child Maintenance Service, Universal Credit, Counter Fraud and Debt, ensuring colleagues can identify, respond, and support claimants safely and appropriately.
As part of the '“Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls”, DWP has committed to strengthening domestic abuse training for staff. We have also pledged to remove the Direct Pay service type so that the Child Maintenance Service manages and transfers payments between parents, preventing it being used as a tool of abuse.
DWP supports vulnerable customers by considering individual circumstances in debt recovery and signposting to specialist services. Our Debt Management Vulnerability Framework and annual adviser training strengthen this approach. DWP collaborates with Surviving Economic Abuse to ensure safeguards are in place for new debt recovery powers under the Public Authorities Fraud, Error and Recovery Act, protecting victims of domestic abuse.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will consider removing the charges for the Child Maintenance Service's collect pay service.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Cases on the Collect and Pay service are typically those where the paying parent has demonstrated an unwillingness to pay, or has not been compliant in a Direct Pay arrangement. For this service, a fee of 20% is added to what the paying parent needs to pay, while 4% is deducted from the amount paid out to receiving parents.
Following a public consultation on wider reforms to consolidate the Child Maintenance Service into a single service type where the CMS collects and transfers payments, the Government published its response setting out plans to reform the CMS. This includes plans to reduce fees to 2% for both receiving parents and paying parents, maintaining the 20% rate for non-compliant paying parents on top of their calculated maintenance amount.
We believe fees are an important part of the service, offsetting the cost of the service and investment needed to make the reforms, reducing the burden on the taxpayer. The proposed fee structure is also intended to incentivise compliance by the paying parent.
Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) driving licenses and (b) passports have been (i) suspended and (ii) disqualified as a result of child maintenance non payment in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The 2012 child maintenance reforms are designed to increase cooperation between separated parents and to ensure that children receive appropriate financial support. Where family-based arrangements are not suitable, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates a statutory scheme and applies a Payment Compliance strategy to address non payment.
CMS has strengthened enforcement powers which include applying for suspension or disqualification of driving licences and passports in cases of persistent non-payment. These powers are applied proportionately and in the best interests of children, and their deterrent effect ensures that their use remains low.
The Department regularly publishes Child Maintenance Service official statistics, with the latest statistics available to September 2025. Table 6.2 of the accompanying National tables provides the outcome information where the CMS applied to courts to sanction Paying Parents for non-compliance. The table shows quarterly statistics for both suspended and immediate driving disqualifications and passport confiscations for England & Wales and for Scotland, between July 2019 and September 2025.
Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Child Maintenance Service cases involving cross border maintenance arrangements were (a) opened and (b) successfully enforced in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) defines cross-border maintenance arrangements to mean applications where one or more parties live outside the United Kingdom (UK).
In the past five years, CMS has received no applications involving cross-border maintenance.
CMS can only act where the receiving parent, paying parent and any qualifying children are habitually resident in the UK. It has no jurisdiction otherwise. Such cases fall under international arrangements known as Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (REMO).
REMO allows UK courts to register and enforce child maintenance orders in countries that have reciprocal arrangements with the UK. These arrangements allow maintenance claims across borders and enable registration and enforcement of orders internationally. Enforcement depends on cooperation with overseas authorities and varies by jurisdiction, including EU countries.