Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
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 adequacy of legal oversight and procedural safeguards in the enforcement processes used by the Child Maintenance Service; and if he will review (a) the process by which liability orders and summonses are issued, (b) the accuracy and treatment of historic arrears inherited from the Child Support Agency, and (c) the availability of data on outcomes for paying parents, including mortality rates.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) exists to ensure that children receive the financial support they are entitled to. When parents fail to financially support their children CMS have a range of enforcement powers that are provided for in the 1991 Child Support Act and the Collection and Enforcement regulations 1992. These include applying to the magistrates’ court for a Liability Order which gives formal recognition of debt a paying parent legally owes.
Decisions surrounding which enforcement method to proceed with are carefully considered by caseworkers based on the case circumstances and the welfare of any qualifying children involved. Parents have a right to challenge the decisions taken by the CMS through established dispute and appeal routes.
In 2018 an exercise to close all CSA cases with live liabilities was completed. As part of that, both parents were given the opportunity to challenge case information, including arrears balances, or decide whether the arrears should move to the CMS to be pursued.
The annual Separated Families statistics, in particular section 6, report the estimated financial impact of child maintenance on non-resident parent households, including both Child Maintenance Service (statutory) arrangements and private (non-statutory) arrangements. The quarterly Child Maintenance Service statistics, particularly sections 6 to 9, contain information on the compliance and enforcement of arrangements made via the service. The Department has no plans to publish mortality data or other additional data relating to Paying Parents.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department last reviewed the Child Maintenance Service’s policy framework for modern shared‑care arrangements; and whether the Service plans to reform its policies on cases where both parents actively share day‑to‑day parenting responsibilities.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises that shared care arrangements can play an important role in supporting children to maintain relationships with both parents after separation.
In the child maintenance system, shared care is reflected in the maintenance calculation. Where a child stays overnight with the paying parent for at least one night a week on average, the amount of maintenance due is reduced to reflect the care provided.
If the Child Maintenance Service is satisfied that both parents have equal day-to-day care for the child, in addition to sharing overnight care, there is no requirement for either parent to pay child maintenance.
Asked by: Susan Murray (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total operating expenditure of the Child Maintenance Service was in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The net operating expenditure of the Child Maintenance Service for the financial year 24/25 is £105.7m.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to review the internal complaints process of the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS), as part of the Department for Work and Pensions, follows the Department’s standard complaints procedure.
The CMS regularly reviews complaint data, including insights from the Independent Case Examiner, to identify key themes and trends, which they use to drive improvements to the complaint handling process. Furthermore, lessons learned are regularly presented to operational teams, supporting them to deliver effective interventions at the initial stage of the complaint and thereby improve the overall customer experience.
The CMS remains focussed on taking pro-active steps to improve the customer experience, developing its customer service strategy to focus on improving current and future service throughout the customer journey.
Asked by: Peter Swallow (Labour - Bracknell)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress he has made on consulting on reform to the calculation of Child maintenance.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We will announce further details in due course.
Given the significant amount of time since the child maintenance calculation was updated, we need to assess carefully the impact of any proposed changes on all parents that use the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to ensure they effectively support families and children and that they are introduced in a way which works well for CMS customers.
Asked by: Andrew Ranger (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to review how shared care arrangements are reflected in the child maintenance and benefits systems for separated parents; and what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of support available to parents who share custody of their children on an equal or near-equal basis but are not designated as the main carer for the purposes of benefit eligibility.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises that shared care arrangements can play an important role in supporting children to maintain relationships with both parents after separation.
In the child maintenance system, shared care is reflected in the maintenance calculation. Where a child stays overnight with the paying parent for at least one night a week on average, the amount of maintenance due is reduced to reflect the care provided.
If the Child Maintenance Service is satisfied that both parents have equal day-to-day care for the child, in addition to sharing overnight care, there is no requirement for either parent to pay child maintenance.
Across the social security system more broadly, entitlement to benefits is generally based on the identification of who has main responsibility for the child, reflecting the need for a clear and administrable basis for determining entitlement. This approach applies consistently across benefits such as Child Benefit and Universal Credit.
As part of wider work on Child Maintenance reforms, we are working to modernise the Child Maintenance calculation to ensure that it is fair, better reflects the cost of raising children today and encourages willing and able compliance.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what enforcement powers are exercised by the Child Maintenance Service pending the commencement of the Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring separated parents support their children financially, taking robust enforcement action against those who do not.
When a paying parent does not make maintenance payments on time or in full, the CMS will initially negotiate a payment that is feasible for the parent to pay. If this is unsuccessful and the paying parent is employed, the CMS will request that ongoing child maintenance payments be deducted directly from their salary by issuing what we call a Deductions from Earnings Order (DEO). The CMS also has powers to deduct maintenance from a wide range of bank accounts including joint and business accounts.
If this is unsuccessful, the CMS will use further measures, including using Enforcement Agents to take control of goods, disqualification from driving or commitment to prison, and disqualification from holding or obtaining a UK passport.
We continually assess the effectiveness of our enforcement action and in the year to September 2025, the CMS collected £214m through administrative and court-based enforcement actions (including deductions from earnings). This is the highest annual amount collected through enforcement since the CMS began in 2012, and represents a 21% increase compared with the year to September 2024.
Following the Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 receiving royal assent in July 2023, secondary legislation is required to bring into force existing powers that allow the CMS to make an administrative liability order against a person who has failed to pay child maintenance and is in arrears. A liability order is a legal recognition of the debt and is required before the CMS can take certain enforcement actions against non-compliant parents to enforce those arrears.
The administrative liability order (ALO) will replace the current requirement for the CMS to apply to the court for a liability order, a cumbersome process which can take a long time (in some cases up to 22 weeks). Introducing a simpler administrative process will enable the CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities and will get money to children more quickly.
We expect the new liability order process in the majority of cases to take around 6 weeks. Changes will mean the CMS can use its strong enforcement powers more quickly to go after those who will fully avoid their financial obligations to their children.
We are working with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Government to establish a process for implementing ALOs and plan to introduce regulations to Parliament as soon as possible.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the planned commencement date is for the Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring separated parents support their children financially, taking robust enforcement action against those who do not.
When a paying parent does not make maintenance payments on time or in full, the CMS will initially negotiate a payment that is feasible for the parent to pay. If this is unsuccessful and the paying parent is employed, the CMS will request that ongoing child maintenance payments be deducted directly from their salary by issuing what we call a Deductions from Earnings Order (DEO). The CMS also has powers to deduct maintenance from a wide range of bank accounts including joint and business accounts.
If this is unsuccessful, the CMS will use further measures, including using Enforcement Agents to take control of goods, disqualification from driving or commitment to prison, and disqualification from holding or obtaining a UK passport.
We continually assess the effectiveness of our enforcement action and in the year to September 2025, the CMS collected £214m through administrative and court-based enforcement actions (including deductions from earnings). This is the highest annual amount collected through enforcement since the CMS began in 2012, and represents a 21% increase compared with the year to September 2024.
Following the Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 receiving royal assent in July 2023, secondary legislation is required to bring into force existing powers that allow the CMS to make an administrative liability order against a person who has failed to pay child maintenance and is in arrears. A liability order is a legal recognition of the debt and is required before the CMS can take certain enforcement actions against non-compliant parents to enforce those arrears.
The administrative liability order (ALO) will replace the current requirement for the CMS to apply to the court for a liability order, a cumbersome process which can take a long time (in some cases up to 22 weeks). Introducing a simpler administrative process will enable the CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities and will get money to children more quickly.
We expect the new liability order process in the majority of cases to take around 6 weeks. Changes will mean the CMS can use its strong enforcement powers more quickly to go after those who will fully avoid their financial obligations to their children.
We are working with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Government to establish a process for implementing ALOs and plan to introduce regulations to Parliament as soon as possible.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for complaints investigations in the Child Maintenance Service that lasted longer than 15 working days, what percentage of complainants received written confirmation of this delay in the last year.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) complaint data information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The CMS complies with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) complaints service standard, to aim to resolve complaints or set a resolution plan within 15 working days. Where a complaint is complex and requires more time, the CMS will inform the complainant within this period of the next steps and when a response can be expected.
The CMS regularly reviews complaint data, including insights from the Independent Case Examiner, to identify key themes and trends, which they use to drive improvements to the complaint handling process. Furthermore, lessons learned are regularly presented to operational teams, supporting them to deliver effective interventions at the initial stage of the complaint and thereby improve the overall customer experience.
The CMS remains focussed on taking pro-active steps to improve the customer experience, developing its customer service strategy to focus on improving current and future service throughout the customer journey.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints to the Child Maintenance Service were resolved (a) within 15 working days, (b) between 15-20 working days, (c) between 20-30 working days and (d) after 30 working days in each year since 2021.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) complaint data information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The CMS complies with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) complaints service standard, to aim to resolve complaints or set a resolution plan within 15 working days. Where a complaint is complex and requires more time, the CMS will inform the complainant within this period of the next steps and when a response can be expected.
The CMS regularly reviews complaint data, including insights from the Independent Case Examiner, to identify key themes and trends, which they use to drive improvements to the complaint handling process. Furthermore, lessons learned are regularly presented to operational teams, supporting them to deliver effective interventions at the initial stage of the complaint and thereby improve the overall customer experience.
The CMS remains focussed on taking pro-active steps to improve the customer experience, developing its customer service strategy to focus on improving current and future service throughout the customer journey.