Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2016 to Question 27438, on children: maintenance, on what basis those cases have been referred for arrears cleansing or validation.

Cases on the 1993 and 2003 are being selected for closure in groups determined by case characteristics. This process started in July 2014 and is planned to last until the end of 2017. When a case going through this process has its on-going maintenance liability ended, it is then referred for “arrears cleanse”. This process involves checking several elements of the case, to ensure that the final debt balance is stable and validated. This validated debt balance is moved to the 2012 system