Key Facts

• No amendments have been tabled for the sitting.
• The sitting will consider clauses 1 to 6 stand part.
• The Child Maintenance Service manages cases through direct pay or collect and pay service types.
• Administrative liability orders will allow quicker enforcement measures without the need for a court application, currently taking about 20 weeks.
• Northern Ireland has similar uncommenced provisions to those in Great Britain but cannot match changes due to the suspended Assembly.
• The Public Accounts Committee report found that around half of children in separated families, approximately 1.8 million children, receive no support from their non-resident parent.
• Child maintenance payments can lift one in five single parents on benefits out of poverty according to the Nuffield Foundation.
• During the pandemic, the number of enforcement agency referrals is still less than half the figure before the pandemic.
• The CMS arranged over £1 billion in child maintenance payments over the past year.
• 64% of paying parents using the collect and pay service paid some of their scheduled child maintenance in Q3 2022, up from 60% in Q1 2018.
• Clause 2 of the Child Support (Enforcement) Bill will allow the Secretary of State to make an administrative liability order where a deduction from earnings order is either inappropriate or has been ineffective.
• The statement refers to concerns expressed about child maintenance records and arrears.
• The speaker serves on the Work and Pensions Committee, which is investigating child maintenance.
• An academic discussed family breakdown as a feminist issue with significant impact on women.