Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to (a) enforce historical arrears for Child Support Maintenance payments where a non-resident parent has not paid for many years and b) assess the use of appeals by non-resident parents as a means of avoiding payment collections.

Child Maintenance Service has a number of different enforcement methods that can be considered when attempting to secure compliance. The use of each method depends on the Paying Parent’s circumstances as well as any potential impact on the welfare of the child(ren).

Child Maintenance Service are prioritising our older non-paying caseload with ring fenced resource and using all available enforcement methods: Deduction from Earnings orders, deductions from bank accounts, Bailiff, charging order and order for sale. (Tables 7.1 and 7.2 of the published statistics shown below lists the enforcement actions taken and the volumes of sanctions)

If a customer believes we have made an error with the calculation of the amount of child maintenance due, they can ask the Service to review the decision under the mandatory reconsideration process within 32 days of the date on our notification letter. (Table 10 of the published statistics) This allows CMS to look again at the decision without going through the appeals process.

If a customer is unhappy with the outcome of the mandatory reconsideration, they can formally appeal to HM Courts and Tribunals Service (Table 11 of the published statistics). When an appeal is outstanding with HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Child Maintenance Service expect that the paying parent should pay the full amount of child maintenance pending the outcome of the appeal. If they decide to withhold payments, the Service will consider taking enforcement action, although they will also look at the circumstances before they pursue payment.

Child Maintenance Service statistics: data to December 2022 (experimental) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)