Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much child maintenance arrears (a) is designated technically uncollectable and (b) his Department has already written-off as uncollectable since the write-off powers were introduced in November 2012; and what the reasons are for any difference between the two such figures.

(a) Information on uncollectable arrears can be found on page 41 of the latest Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics, available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/404296/csa-qtr-summ-stats-dec-2014.pdf

(b) Under the Write Off and Part Payment Powers introduced on 10 December 2012 the Department has written off £1.2 million in the financial year 2012/13 and £16.0 million in the financial year 2013/14 giving a total written off of £17.2 million.

The two figures are not directly comparable. The data is based on different sources, uncollectable arrears is based on the entire caseload whereas the amount written off relates to specific cases where agreement to write off has been reached.