Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the Child Maintenance Service does not allow economic abuse through missed payments by the paying parent.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) takes the issue of domestic and economic abuse extremely seriously and is committed to ensuring that victims of abuse get the help and support they need.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) possess robust enforcement powers and use them effectively in the collection of arrears. CMS has also implemented significant improvements to speed up action when payments break down, targeting enforcement actions more effectively.

A consultation on proposed reforms to the CMS was published by the previous Government on 8 May 2024. This included proposals to remove the Direct Pay service. These measures will allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster as monitoring all payments would enable the CMS to immediately identify any missed, late or partial payments and take swift enforcement action.

The consultation was extended by this Government at the end of July and ran until 30 September 2024. We are currently analysing the responses we have received, and the Government will publish a response in due course.