Children: Maintenance

(asked on 19th May 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Child Maintenance Service is taking to ensure that the maintenance liability of paying parents reflects their income.


Answered by
Guy Opperman Portrait
Guy Opperman
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This question was answered on 24th May 2021

The income information for a child maintenance calculation is obtained directly from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). This method is consistent for all of our paying parents including earnings from self-employment.

Either parent may request a variation to a maintenance calculation to allow the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to consider some circumstances which are not covered by the basic calculation. This includes unearned income such as rental income from property or land, or dividends and interest from savings and investments. If a variation succeeds, the maintenance liability may be adjusted.

Cases involving complex income or suspected fraud can be referred to the CMS’s Financial Investigation Unit (FIU), a specialist team who can request information from financial institutions to check the maintenance calculation accurately reflects financial circumstances. If an investigation finds evidence of criminality the FIU may seek to prosecute or forward to HMRC for fraud action.

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