Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of (a) providing the Child Maintenance Service with stronger enforcement powers and (b) reviewing the standard of compliance used by the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No assessment has been made.
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) already has tough enforcement powers including taking regular or lump sum payments from bank accounts or regular payments direct from earnings. Other sanctions such as sending parents to prison or disqualifying them from holding or obtaining a driving licence are used as a deterrent and as a last resort where all other methods of enforcement have failed.
These powers were reviewed as part of the Compliance and Arrears Strategy and in 2018 we introduced new powers to deduct child maintenance directly from a wider range of accounts, including certain joint and business accounts; and to disqualify parents from holding or obtaining a passport.
Compliance measures are published quarterly and can be found here:
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure pensioners who are eligible for pension credit are notified of their eligibility.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
1.5 million pensioners currently receive Pension Credit. However, the Government wants to make sure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are rightly entitled. In February 2020 we launched a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit and help dispel some of the misconceptions that people might have about Pension Credit eligibility.
The DWP targets activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or report a change in their circumstances.