Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to improve information sharing between (a) the Child Maintenance Service, (b) HM Revenue and Customs and (c) his Department to help enable accurate income assessments.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The CMS maintains the accuracy of child maintenance calculations by using verified income information from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and benefit systems.
The department legally relies on data from HMRC and its own benefits data to assess 90% of people’s earned income and benefit status, which are key parts of the maintenance calculation.
Information about the paying parent's gross income is taken directly from HMRC for the latest tax year available. This allows calculations to be made quickly and accurately. Any income subject to income tax including bonuses and overtime received by an employed paying parent, is included within their gross weekly income when calculating a child maintenance liability.
The Government is conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose. This includes updating the underlying research and considering how to ensure the calculation reflects current and future societal trends. The review will also consider the treatment of unearned income and assets within the automatic calculation.
Options for proposed reforms are currently being considered. Any changes made to the child maintenance calculation will be subject to extensive public consultation, which we plan to publish late this year, and if made, will require amendments to legislation so would be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny.
Unearned income and assets can still be captured through the current variation process up until any changes are introduced.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that child maintenance arrears owed under previous Child Maintenance Service schemes are recovered effectively.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The main focus of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is to collect money owed to children who will benefit today, thereby preventing the build-up of arrears under CMS. Arrears owed under previous Child Support schemes are at least 12 years old. It is a key principle that unpaid child maintenance should be paid immediately.
Powers were introduced in 2018 that enabled the CMS to close the remaining cases on the Child Support Agency (CSA) following the collection or write-off of historic arrears.
Closing the CSA was a key element of the child maintenance reforms. It means that all cases are now managed on a single, more efficient and effective system.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 potential impact of (a) missed or (b) partial child maintenance payments on (i) children and (ii) resident parents.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is estimated to keep around 120,000 children out of poverty each year. CMS acknowledges the significant impact that missed or partial child maintenance payments can have on both children and resident parents.
Changes have been implemented to systems to identify at-risk cases allowing caseworkers to intervene at the earliest opportunity where a partial payment is made and before payments stop.
The CMS has taken steps to strengthen enforcement against non-resident parents who repeatedly fail to meet their child maintenance obligations. These powers allow the CMS to instruct an employer to deduct maintenance directly from the paying parent's wages, take money directly from a paying parent’s bank or building society account. If the paying parent is on certain benefits, deductions can be made at source.
CMS can also apply to the courts for a Liability Order which legally means the debt is legally recognised, allowing CMS to take further enforcement actions such as:
As part of a broader strategy, to ensure consistent financial support for children, the government is reforming the system to eliminate Direct Pay and expand the Collect and Pay service to improve compliance and reduce financial hardship for resident parents and children.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen enforcement against non-resident parents who repeatedly fail to meet their child maintenance payment obligations.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is estimated to keep around 120,000 children out of poverty each year. CMS acknowledges the significant impact that missed or partial child maintenance payments can have on both children and resident parents.
Changes have been implemented to systems to identify at-risk cases allowing caseworkers to intervene at the earliest opportunity where a partial payment is made and before payments stop.
The CMS has taken steps to strengthen enforcement against non-resident parents who repeatedly fail to meet their child maintenance obligations. These powers allow the CMS to instruct an employer to deduct maintenance directly from the paying parent's wages, take money directly from a paying parent’s bank or building society account. If the paying parent is on certain benefits, deductions can be made at source.
CMS can also apply to the courts for a Liability Order which legally means the debt is legally recognised, allowing CMS to take further enforcement actions such as:
As part of a broader strategy, to ensure consistent financial support for children, the government is reforming the system to eliminate Direct Pay and expand the Collect and Pay service to improve compliance and reduce financial hardship for resident parents and children.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of eligible cases have the Child Maintenance Service used enforcement powers in including (a) liability orders, (b) bailiff action, (c) passport revocation and (d) driving licence revocation in each of the last five years; and what barriers exist to the Child Maintenance Service applying such enforcement powers in cases of persistent non-payment.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring that children receive the financial support to which they are entitled. Where a paying parent fails to meet their obligations under a statutory child maintenance arrangement, enforcement action is taken.
The Department regularly publishes Child Maintenance Service official statistics. The Enforcement section of the latest bulletin provides details on the enforcement actions used by the CMS, and further details of these for quarter ending June 2015 to quarter ending June 2025 are available in table 6.1 and 6.2 of the accompanying National tables.
Enforcement actions are used by the CMS to collect both the maintenance arranged by the CMS, and Child Support Agency arrears that have been transitioned to CMS systems. Details of the number of paying parents using the Collect and Pay service, and the compliance of those parents, for the same time period are available in the CMS Paying Parents dataset on Stat-Xplore. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required.
Enforcement can be more challenging where paying parents have irregular income, lack traceable assets, or receive benefits, as deductions may be limited or not feasible. These situations require careful consideration to ensure that enforcement remains proportionate and effective. In some instances, non-payment is used as a form of economic abuse. To support survivors, the CMS has introduced reforms, including easier access to the Collect and Pay service. While enforcement aims to be swift, paying parents have a right to appeal, which can delay proceedings. The CMS must balance timely action with procedural fairness.
The Department continues to monitor the effectiveness of enforcement measures and remains committed to further reforms to ensure that child maintenance is paid promptly and in full.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the equitableness of the Child Maintenance Service's (a) fee structure and (b) case prioritisation (i) where a paying parent has multiple children across different claims and (ii) all other cases.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives in.
Information about the paying parent's gross income is taken directly from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the latest tax year available. This allows calculations to be made quickly and accurately.
The calculation can also take into account other aspects such as where care of the child is shared between the parents and any other children that the paying parent provides care.
The CMS recognises the complexity of cases where a paying parent has multiple children across different claims and is committed to ensuring that all children receive fair and timely support.
Where a paying parent has multiple children across different claims, the CMS recalculates the total maintenance liability based on the number of qualifying children across all cases, fees are based on a percentage of the total ongoing maintenance (OGM) amount, not on the number of arrangements.
The calculation can also take into account any other children outside of the statutory scheme for whom the paying parent provides support. This ensures the Child Maintenance Service fulfils its responsibility to consider the welfare of all children connected to a case.
A consultation on proposed CMS reforms was published by the previous Government on 8 May 2024. The consultation was extended by the Government at the end of July and ran until 30 September 2024. The Government published a response on 23 June 2025. This included plans to reform the CMS fee structure for the Collect and Pay Service, reducing fees to 2% for receiving parents, deducted from maintenance received, and 2% for compliant paying parents in addition to their calculated maintenance amount, while maintaining the 20% rate for non-compliant paying parents, in addition to their calculated maintenance amount.
The Government is conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose. This includes updating the underlying research and considering how to ensure the calculation reflects current and future societal trends.
Options for proposed reforms are currently being considered. Any changes made to the child maintenance calculation will be subject to extensive public consultation, and if made, will require amendments to legislation so would be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 proportion of paying parents who have (a) avoided and (b) reduced child maintenance payments through (i) advance benefit payments and (ii) other similar means.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) recognises the importance of ensuring that child maintenance payments are made fairly and consistently, and that children receive the financial support to which they are entitled.
In the Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced that from 30 April 2025, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) would reduce the Universal Credit (UC) overall deductions cap from 25% to 15% of the standard allowance, introducing the Fair Repayment Rate (FRR). Without changes, this would reduce the number of child maintenance (CM) deductions. To prevent this, DWP implemented a temporary regulatory and policy change for one year from 30 April 2025 meaning CM deductions moved to first place in UC’s deductions priority order and deductions can exceed the 15% cap ensuring CM payments continue. Evidence gathered during the year will inform whether to make the change permanent or adopt an alternative approach.
In relation to other similar means: The CMS monitors claims to ensure they are accurate and works closely with HMRC to verify income data and identify discrepancies. Where a receiving parent believes their assessment does not reflect the paying parent’s true financial position, CMS offers a variation process to challenge the assessment.
The CMS continues to refine its systems to detect and prevent avoidance, including through legislative reforms and improved data sharing.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce Child Maintenance Service (a) response and (b) decision times.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has made significant strides through its Service Modernisation and Digital Transformation Programmes, improving response times and expanding online services for separated parents. It has optimised digital channels and self-service options, reducing caseworker involvement in many processes and speeding up outcomes for customers. Staff support has also improved through upgraded training and operational guidance. Communication with customers is quicker and clearer thanks to greater use of SMS, email, and simplified letters.
As the demand for the service continues to grow, CMS is actively reviewing resources and recruiting to meet future needs. It regularly gathers feedback through the Customer Experience Survey and uses this insight to identify areas for improvement. Its focus remains on delivering efficient, accessible services while continuing to review, evaluate, and enhance tools, processes, and customer experience as part of the ongoing Service Modernisation Programme.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to improve transparency in Child Maintenance Service (a) calculations and (b) deductions (i) in general and (ii) where deductions from earnings orders are applied.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance calculation is based on the paying parent’s gross income, verified through HMRC data. To improve transparency, the CMS has enhanced data sharing with HMRC to ensure accurate income assessments, including unearned income such as dividends and rental income. Whenever a calculation is made both parents are notified of the amount, the reason for the calculation and how the calculation has been made enabling parents to challenge assessments they believe do not reflect the paying parent’s true financial position. The online portal, My Child Maintenance Case, allows parents to view all prior calculations.
The CMS applies general deductions through either voluntary arrangements or enforcement mechanisms. To improve transparency, the CMS has published guidance on Gov.uk detailing how these processes are applied.
Deductions from earnings orders (DEO) are a key enforcement tool used when a paying parent fails to meet their obligations. To improve transparency in this area, the CMS has issued clear employer guidance on how DEOs operate, including legal obligations, calculation methods, and reporting requirements. This includes ensuring employers receive formal written instructions from the CMS before any changes to deductions are made, preventing unauthorised or unclear adjustments. The protected earnings rate ensures that short term variations in earnings do not allow deductions to reduce a paying parent’s net income below a minimum level required for essential living costs.
Additionally, the CMS provide paying parents with notice of enforcement action and the opportunity to appeal or request a reconsideration of their maintenance calculation before a DEO is applied.
The Department continues to review and refine CMS processes to ensure they are transparent, fair, and effective in delivering financial support to children in separated families.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what mechanisms are in place to allow the collection of child maintenance arrears after a qualifying child ceases to be a qualifying child; and what guidance his Department has issued to receiving parents on this matter.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
If Paying Parents fail to meet their financial obligation to their children, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has a range of strong enforcement powers including deduction from earnings orders and bank accounts, removing a parents passport or driving license and committal to prison. These powers can be used to collect debt of any age, including after a child ceases to be a qualifying child.
When ongoing maintenance ends due to there no longer being a qualifying child, the CMS will contact both parties to explain what this means. Receiving Parents are informed of any arrears outstanding and provided with guidance on whether they want the arrears collecting, and how the CMS can recover the arrears owed.