Children: Maintenance

(asked on 19th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on waiting times for Child Maintenance Service appeals.


Answered by
Chris Philp Portrait
Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
This question was answered on 22nd October 2020

The latest period for which data about appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) are available is January to March 2020 which predates the pandemic.

www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.

The most recent tribunal statistics publication covering the period April to June 2020 does not include SSCS data due to issues identified as the Tribunal was being migrated to a new operational system. The data will be made available as soon as this is resolved and the data quality assured.

Appeals to the SSCS Tribunal have continued to be heard in line with government guidance throughout the pandemic. Telephone hearings and the use of other hearing technology have been used to facilitate as many hearings as possible being held remotely.

In addition to holding remote hearings in all regions, appeals may also be decided by judges sitting alone in chambers, using the evidence before them in the case papers.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service has also introduced safety measures so that face to face hearings can be held for any cases which cannot be decided on the papers or heard remotely.

The decision as to how a hearing is conducted is a matter for the judge, who will determine how best to uphold the interests of justice. In considering the suitability of video/audio hearings to replace face to face hearings, judges will consider matters such as the nature of the dispute at stake and any issues the use of video/audio technology may present for participants in the hearing, having regard to individuals’ needs.

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