Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Child Maintenance Service has made of the potential merits of reducing the threshold for unearned income for paying parents from £2,500 to £1,000 in line with HMRC’s annual tax-free allowance.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The threshold for unearned income was originally set at £2,500 to ensure that this represented a significant source of a paying parent’s total annual income. This ensures that minor changes in unearned income do not interfere with the efficiency of the system, increasing costs for the taxpayer.
A review is currently ongoing to look at the child maintenance calculation to ensure it is fit for purpose. Unearned income, including the current threshold, falls within the scope of this review.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that the Child Maintenance Service enforces parent (a) compliance and (b) payment.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where a paying parent fails to pay on time or in full, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) aims to take immediate action to recover the debt and re-establish compliance. If this is unsuccessful and the paying parent is employed, the CMS will use a Deductions from Earnings Order (DEO) to take payment directly from their wages.
The CMS also has a range of strong enforcement powers that can be used against those who consistently refuse to meet their obligations to provide financial support to their children.
The Department plans to enhance effectiveness in collecting arrears payments by delivering changes via regulations to streamline the enforcement process. This will remove the requirement to obtain a court issued liability order, and instead allow the Secretary of State to issue an administrative liability order. Introducing this simpler administrative process will enable the CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the Child Maintenance Service to calculate a paying parent's liability using their household income rather than their individual income.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including contributing to their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives in. The calculation represents an amount of money that is broadly commensurate with the amount that a paying parent would spend on the child if they were still living with them.
The CMS will assess how much the paying parent should pay the receiving parent, which in most cases is based on a percentage of the paying parent's gross annual income, before tax and national insurance but after pension contributions. This can also include income from certain assets, savings and investment such as dividends or property income. Income from other members of the household is not considered as they have no financial responsibility for the qualifying child.
The income of the receiving parent is not taken into consideration as they are already contributing as the child's primary caregiver and their income should not remove the responsibility of a paying parent to support their child.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Child Maintenance Service has made of the potential merits of ensuring that both parents are equally liable for childcare costs.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including contributing to their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives in. The calculation represents an amount of money that is broadly commensurate with the amount that a paying parent would spend on the child if they were still living with them.
The CMS will assess how much the paying parent should pay the receiving parent, which in most cases is based on a percentage of the paying parent's gross annual income, before tax and national insurance but after pension contributions. This can also include income from certain assets, savings and investment such as dividends or property income. Income from other members of the household is not considered as they have no financial responsibility for the qualifying child.
The income of the receiving parent is not taken into consideration as they are already contributing as the child's primary caregiver and their income should not remove the responsibility of a paying parent to support their child.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that parents are not able to avoid (a) Child Maintenance liability and (b) Deduction of Earning Orders by changing employment.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where parents frequently change employment, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) can use alternative powers such as deducting child maintenance directly from their bank account. The CMS has a range of strong enforcement options that are designed to get money flowing quickly, prevent the build-up of arrears and ensure children get the financial support they deserve. Upon changing employer, the child maintenance liability will remain unaffected unless there is also a change to income which is greater than 25%.
The Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 delivered primary legislation to accelerate the enforcement process. The changes seek to introduce a simpler administrative process to obtain a liability order against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities, enabling the CMS to take faster enforcement action. We will monitor the effectiveness of this.
The CMS has a relatively low percentage of unpaid maintenance. Only 8% of the total maintenance due to be paid since the start of the CMS remains to be collected through the collect & pay service. This was as high as 17% in March 2015.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to improve the success of enforcement measures taken by the Child Maintenance Service on non-paying parents.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where parents frequently change employment, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) can use alternative powers such as deducting child maintenance directly from their bank account. The CMS has a range of strong enforcement options that are designed to get money flowing quickly, prevent the build-up of arrears and ensure children get the financial support they deserve. Upon changing employer, the child maintenance liability will remain unaffected unless there is also a change to income which is greater than 25%.
The Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 delivered primary legislation to accelerate the enforcement process. The changes seek to introduce a simpler administrative process to obtain a liability order against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities, enabling the CMS to take faster enforcement action. We will monitor the effectiveness of this.
The CMS has a relatively low percentage of unpaid maintenance. Only 8% of the total maintenance due to be paid since the start of the CMS remains to be collected through the collect & pay service. This was as high as 17% in March 2015.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims were processed by the Child Maintenance Agency in each of the last five years; and how many appeals were (a) lodged, (b) fully processed, (c) upheld and (d) rejected.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
A principle of child maintenance is to increase levels of cooperation between separated parents and encourage parents to meet their responsibilities to provide their children with financial support.
Where a family-based child maintenance arrangement is not suitable the Child Maintenance Service offers a statutory scheme for those parents who need it.
When a parent joins the statutory scheme Child Maintenance Service will do everything within its powers to ensure parents comply and meet their obligations to children.
In the 12 months up to March 2024 there were 131,300 claims to the child maintenance statutory scheme (rounded to the nearest 100) and the child maintenance service arranged £1.4 billion child maintenance through the statutory scheme, an increase from £1.2 billion during the previous 12 months.
CMS are wholly committed to delivering the best possible service to all customers within our growing caseload. When a Parent or their representative disagrees with a decision about a child maintenance calculation, they have the right to appeal. Before they do this, they must first ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration.
If the Child Maintenance Service decides not to change its decision the parent can follow the formal appeal process, handled by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) where an independent tribunal will look at the Child Maintenance Service’s decision.
The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) and the latest statistics are available up to March 2024.
Table 3 from the latest National tables contains the number of arrangements joining the Child Maintenance Service each quarter from January 2015 to March 2024. Table 11 contains information on the number of appeals made by parents to His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service to review a decision made by the Child Maintenance Service each quarter from April 2015 to March 2024.
Excerpts for the last five years for both tables are shown below.
Table 3: Intake, Great Britain, April 2019 to March 2024
Quarter of Application | Intake |
Apr to Jun 2019 | 22,300 |
Jul to Sep 2019 | 22,100 |
Oct to Dec 2019 | 17,200 |
Jan to Mar 2020 | 20,300 |
Apr to Jun 2020 [note 2] | 13,100 |
Jul to Sep 2020 | 21,800 |
Oct to Dec 2020 | 17,600 |
Jan to Mar 2021 | 18,400 |
Apr to Jun 2021 | 19,700 |
Jul to Sep 2021 | 21,300 |
Oct to Dec 2021 | 19,500 |
Jan to Mar 2022 | 26,900 |
Apr to Jun 2022 | 32,000 |
Jul to Sep 2022 | 33,600 |
Oct to Dec 2022 | 27,200 |
Jan to Mar 2023 | 32,400 |
Apr to Jun 2023 | 32,400 |
Jul to Sep 2023 | 34,700 |
Oct to Dec 2023 | 28,600 |
Jan to Mar 2024 | 35,600 |
|
|
Source: Child Maintenance Service Management Information
Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
Note Number | Note Text |
note 1 | Intake includes new arrangements as well as arrangements where the parent has closed an existing arrangement and then decided to re-open it at a later date. |
note 2 | During the quarter ending June 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak may have reduced the demand for new Child Service Maintenance arrangements. |
Table 11: Appeals, Great Britain, April 2019 to March 2024
Quarter | Appeals Received | CMS Outcome: Withdrawn | CMS Outcome: | Tribunal Service Outcome: | Tribunal Service Outcome: | Total Clearances |
[note 1] | [note 2] | Revised [note 3] | Upheld [note 4] | Dismissed [note 5] | [note 6] | |
|
|
| ||||
Apr to Jun 2019 | 965 | 15 | 240 | 235 | 350 | 845 |
Jul to Sep 2019 | 965 | 20 | 165 | 225 | 385 | 795 |
Oct to Dec 2019 | 1,000 | 20 | 185 | 225 | 375 | 805 |
Jan to Mar 2020 | 1,105 | 15 | 195 | 225 | 385 | 820 |
Apr to Jun 2020 | 465 | 10 | 85 | 90 | 140 | 325 |
Jul to Sep 2020 | 1,030 | 20 | 125 | 120 | 210 | 470 |
Oct to Dec 2020 | 1,040 | 10 | 205 | 220 | 365 | 805 |
Jan to Mar 2021 | 980 | 5 | 175 | 240 | 445 | 865 |
Apr to Jun 2021 | 1,045 | 5 | 145 | 400 | 880 | 1,430 |
Jul to Sep 2021 | 1,120 | 10 | 155 | 315 | 365 | 850 |
Oct to Dec 2021 | 1,350 | 15 | 195 | 265 | 350 | 830 |
Jan to Mar 2022 | 735 | 20 | 255 | 330 | 455 | 1,060 |
Apr to Jun 2022 | 965 | 25 | 260 | 280 | 420 | 985 |
Jul to Sep 2022 | 895 | 35 | 250 | 360 | 490 | 1,135 |
Oct to Dec 2022 | 865 | 35 | 240 | 380 | 505 | 1,160 |
Jan to Mar 2023 | 1,110 | 10 | 100 | 295 | 345 | 745 |
Apr to Jun 2023 | 1,325 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 215 | 415 |
Jul to Sep 2023 | 1,085 | 20 | 220 | 200 | 180 | 620 |
Oct to Dec 2023 | 1,155 | 25 | 200 | 290 | 290 | 805 |
Jan to Mar 2024 | 1,030 | 10 | 225 | 310 | 220 | 770 |
Source: Child Maintenance Service Management Information
Figures are rounded to the nearest 5.
Note number | Note Text |
note 1 | Parents can appeal a decision by the Child Maintenance Service on payment amounts with the Tribunal Service which is impartial and independent of Government. Before they do this, they must ask the Child Maintenance Service to review and reconsider their decision (known as a Mandatory Reconsideration). |
note 2 | Where the parent decides that they no longer want to appeal the decision and withdraw the appeal. |
note 3 | Where the Child Maintenance Service finds the original decision to be incorrect, or the parent has supplied more information which changes the decision. |
note 4 | Where His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service overturns the decision made by the Child Maintenance Service and supports the parent's appeal. This includes appeals where the appellant provides additional evidence to the court. |
note 5 | Where the courts dismiss the appeal made by the parent and support the decision made by the Child Maintenance Service. |
note 6 | The sum of the Child Maintenance Service appeals withdrawn and revised in addition to the Tribunal Service appeals dismissed and upheld. |
Asked by: Andrew Cooper (Labour - Mid Cheshire)
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 effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service in protecting victims of domestic abuse when using their service.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is assessing how it can provide statistics on domestic abuse now the application fee exemption statistics are no longer published. The Department's Chief Statistician will oversee the development of these statistics to make sure they meet the Code of Practice for Statistics.
The Department takes the issue of domestic abuse extremely seriously and the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) offers an accessible, safe, and secure service for all parents. All CMS caseworkers receive training on how to identify the different types of abuse, including financial abuse and how they can appropriately support and signpost victims and survivors.
The CMS reviews its domestic abuse training regularly to ensure caseworkers are equipped to support parents in vulnerable situations and the Department will continue to meet stakeholders regularly to maintain an open dialogue on how to improve the service.
There are several secure ways to receive maintenance directly without having to divulge sensitive personal details, including for victims of domestic abuse and other vulnerable parents. The CMS can help arrange for payments to be made to bank accounts that cannot be traced to a physical location which helps to protect the parent’s location. The CMS does not put parents directly in touch with each other, nor does it share their current location via correspondence.
A consultation on proposed reforms to the CMS was published by the previous Government on 8 May 2024. This included removing Direct Pay and managing all CMS cases in one service to allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster and explore how victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be better supported. This follows the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act receiving royal assent in July 2023.
The consultation has been extended to the 30 September 2024 to ensure full stakeholder engagement can take place.
Asked by: Andrew Cooper (Labour - Mid Cheshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of victims of domestic abuse experiencing financial abuse while using the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is assessing how it can provide statistics on domestic abuse now the application fee exemption statistics are no longer published. The Department's Chief Statistician will oversee the development of these statistics to make sure they meet the Code of Practice for Statistics.
The Department takes the issue of domestic abuse extremely seriously and the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) offers an accessible, safe, and secure service for all parents. All CMS caseworkers receive training on how to identify the different types of abuse, including financial abuse and how they can appropriately support and signpost victims and survivors.
The CMS reviews its domestic abuse training regularly to ensure caseworkers are equipped to support parents in vulnerable situations and the Department will continue to meet stakeholders regularly to maintain an open dialogue on how to improve the service.
There are several secure ways to receive maintenance directly without having to divulge sensitive personal details, including for victims of domestic abuse and other vulnerable parents. The CMS can help arrange for payments to be made to bank accounts that cannot be traced to a physical location which helps to protect the parent’s location. The CMS does not put parents directly in touch with each other, nor does it share their current location via correspondence.
A consultation on proposed reforms to the CMS was published by the previous Government on 8 May 2024. This included removing Direct Pay and managing all CMS cases in one service to allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster and explore how victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be better supported. This follows the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act receiving royal assent in July 2023.
The consultation has been extended to the 30 September 2024 to ensure full stakeholder engagement can take place.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to reform child maintenance services by (a) abolishing fees for survivors of violence against women and girls and (b) implementing robust enforcement measures for non-paying parents.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
A consultation on proposed reforms to the CMS was published by the previous Government on 8 May 2024. This included removing Direct Pay and changing the charging structure, with all CMS cases managed in one service to allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster. The consultation also explores how victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be better supported.
This Government has extended the consultation to the 30 September 2024 to ensure full stakeholder engagement can take place. We will then consider the next steps for CMS.