Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the covid-19 outbreak on the ability of the Child Maintenance Service to carry out enforcement activity with non-compliant parents.

During COVID-19 pandemic the CMS ability to recover arrears via enforcement activity was affected as Enforcement Agents and the Courts were operating at a reduced capacity. Temporary changes were made to the Child Maintenance Service to ensure it could continue to deliver its priorities supporting separated parents.

The CMS worked with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service to establish alternatives to face to face court hearings by setting up video / phone hearings where outcomes were received digitally.

The CMS has now reinstated a full service and is committed to making sure that over time everyone pays or receives the right amount of child maintenance.

In 2021-22 we made more referrals to enforcement agents than in any other year and the number of liability orders applied for each year is back to pre-pandemic levels.