Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Child Maintenance Service

Monday 7 October 2024 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The percentage of parents paying maintenance through collect and pay increased from 65% to 69% between March 2023 and March 2024.
  • Around 40% of children in separated families receive no financial support from their non-residential parent.
  • The consultation concluded with a focus on addressing issues with the direct pay service to protect victims of abuse.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Will Forster Lib Dem Woking
Children & Families
Context

The Child Maintenance Service faces criticism for its performance in collecting payments. The question arises due to concerns about the number of children receiving no support from non-residential parents.

Question

What assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service in collecting payments? Around 1.8 million children receive no financial support from their non-residential parent, a situation that needs improvement.

Answer from Andrew Western

Between March 2023 and March this year, the percentage of parents paying something towards maintenance through collect and pay increased from 65% to 69%. Child maintenance payments play a crucial role in keeping hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty each year. The Government is committed to increasing those collection levels further.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The percentage increase and the number of children kept out of poverty are mentioned but no specific timeline or new measures for improving collection rates were provided.

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Q2 Will Forster Lib Dem Woking
Children & Families
Context

The Child Maintenance Service faces criticism for its performance in collecting payments, particularly concerning the large number of children receiving no financial support from their non-residential parent.

Question

Given that around half of children in separated families—that is 1.8 million children—are receiving no support from their non-residential parent, does the Minister know when that figure might change?

Answer from Andrew Western

The hon. Gentleman raises an important point about those families who receive no support. The figure is actually around 40%, but none the less it is not good enough. We are looking at a recently concluded consultation on the future of the Child Maintenance Service and will consider our next steps to try to increase collection levels wherever we can.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The figure reduction timeline was not provided, only that the Government is considering next steps from a recent consultation.

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Q3 Andrew Cooper Lab Mid Cheshire
Children & Families
Context

Two constituents contacted the MP about obtaining child maintenance payments from abusive ex-partners. In both cases, their abusers were able to use features of the system to avoid paying their fair share.

Question

Can my hon. Friend tell me what steps are being taken to reform the child maintenance system to protect victims of abuse, such as my constituents?

Answer from Andrew Western

The Department takes domestic abuse extremely seriously. The recently concluded consultation looked to address some issues with the direct pay service, including potential removal moving forward due to its open nature to abuse and continued terrorisation of victims.

Partly answered

Not addressed: While steps are being considered from a recent consultation, specific details on the reforms and timing were not provided.

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