Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the child maintenance service uses a person's gross income and not take home pay when making maintenance calculations.

When the Child Maintenance Service makes a calculation it is based initially on gross income information received directly from HM Revenue and Customs. Taking information directly from HMRC allows us to capture a wide range of income types received by paying parents. Basing the assessment on gross income data has enabled the Child Maintenance Service to significantly speed up the set-up of new cases which can be key to securing regular payments.