Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the enforcement powers of the Child Maintenance Service for ensuring that parents receive the money they are owed.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) continues to take rigorous action to collect maintenance, combining robust negotiation activity with the highly effective use of its extensive range of Enforcement Powers. This approach is driven by the Payment Compliance strategy increasing CMS compliance influencing activities to tackle non-paying cases and challenge non-compliant behaviours. CMS applies a Continuous Improvement focus to Enforcement strategy and processes.

The UK went into its first lockdown on the 23rd March 2020, its second on the 5th November 2020 and its third on the 6th January 2021. The Child Maintenance Service was affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and the resultant changes to the Department’s operational priorities and staffing resources. CMS have worked in partnership with Courts and Enforcement Agents following the restrictions on Enforcement activity during this period to quickly return to normal operating practice and pursue non-compliant parents.

Total child maintenance collected using Enforcement Actions amounted to £36.1 million in the quarter to September 2022 compared with £33.8 in September 2021 and £28.4 in September 2020. This rise in collections is linked directly to increased collections through Deductions from Earnings Orders, lump sum and regular deductions taken directly from paying parents’ bank accounts, Liability Order and Bailiff actions and making full use of all available sanctions.

(Source – Child Maintenance Service published Statistics : National Tables – table 7.1 ‘Enforcement Actions’, April 2015 to September 2022).

As a result of a focussed effort to increase enforcement activity £49.4 million was paid through the Collect & Pay service in the quarter to June 2022 compared to the quarter ending December 2019 where £44.1 million was paid before the impact of the pandemic took effect.

(Source – Child Maintenance Service published Statistics : National Tables – table 5 ‘Money Due and Paid each quarter’ January 2015 to September 2022).

There has been a consistent downward trend in the proportion of unpaid maintenance as a proportion of maintenance arranged since 2017, falling from 12.5% in 2017 to 8.2% in September 2022.

(Source – Child Maintenance Service published Statistics : National Tables - table 6 ‘ how much maintenance CMS has arranged March 2015 to September 2022).