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 calculations reflect (a) shared parenting arrangements and (b) shared parenting arrangements in which a non-resident parent cares for their child for 10–16 days per month.

The Child Maintenance Service operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives in.

Reductions can be made for the extra cost of care where it is shared by the paying parent. The paying parent must have overnight care of any qualifying children for at least 52 nights a year, equivalent of 1 night per week. The amount payable is reduced by a maximum of fifty per cent within bands based on the number of nights overnight care is provided over a 12-month period. The bands are used to give greater stability to maintenance payments and as a result there is greater reliability of payments, which contributes towards the welfare of the children in the case.

If evidence shows that both parties are providing equal day-to-day care of a qualifying child, in addition to sharing overnight care, there is no requirement for either parent to pay child maintenance.

There is no statutory definition of day-to-day care, our definition is broadly aligned with that of Child Benefit, where an ‘overall care test’ is used. This provides consistency across government and receipt of Child Benefit is regarded as a good indicator of who is entitled to child maintenance payments.

Where a dispute does arise, the CMS will seek to collect evidence from parents, for example a Court ordered arrangement, to establish the correct figure.

The evidence acceptable in these circumstances is

• a current court order providing for contact between the paying parent and the child
• a formal written agreement, for example drawn up by a solicitor, or
• another official document for example, Social Services or Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) reports.

The Child Maintenance Service is committed to ensuring that it delivers a safe service that is sensitive to the needs of all the parents that use it. We recognise that some parents may face difficult circumstances, particularly at a time of separation.

We are engaging with other DWP services, and with external stakeholders, who have a range of different models for providing additional support to work together in the interests of their children where necessary, to identify best practice and see what else we could usefully add.

Child Maintenance on-line services promote the benefits of mediation to parents where this is appropriate and provide signposting to accredited mediation services.

The CMS is well prepared to respond quickly and effectively if it becomes aware that the safety of any of its customers are at risk, and caseworkers receive extensive training and follow a well-managed process with clear steps to support vulnerable clients.

Caseworkers have access to several tools and procedures to help support customers when they advise they cannot afford to pay child maintenance, or are struggling with the cost of living in general, and are in financial or emotional crisis.

This includes the National District Provision Toolkit and Affordability Hub which provides invaluable information to allow caseworkers to signpost to national and local support organisations for debt help and mental health assistance across the UK.