Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 1 October 2019 to Question 291411 on Children: Maintenance, for what reasons her Department did not make an assessment of the effect of the introduction of the Scottish Rate of Income Tax in 2016 on equality of calculating child maintenance liabilities using gross income due to different tax liabilities in the constituent parts of the UK.

The Department considered the impact of the introduction of the Scottish Rate of Income Tax and how it would interact with Child Maintenance in Great Britain. Child maintenance liabilities are calculated as a percentage of a paying parent’s gross annual income. Given the rate of income tax in Scotland and the level of the liability we have determined that paying parents are not disproportionately impacted. Therefore, we have no plans to conduct an assessment of the potential merits in devolving child maintenance liabilities to Scotland.