Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what safeguards are in place to prevent misuse of the Child Maintenance Service by resident parents making unfounded or exaggerated claims in order to maximise payments from the non-resident parent.

Child Maintenance Service (CMS) decisions are made by caseworkers who consider all the evidence and apply the law, including any relevant case law, to the facts of each case.

Where the legislation specifies or implies that a caseworker make a discretionary decision, the judgement must be reasonable and unbiased, taking in all relevant matters and discarding irrelevant matters.

There may be occasions where a caseworker must make a decision based on incomplete or contradictory information. If this is the case and the caseworker is unable to corroborate the information, they will have to exercise their judgement, considering all the available evidence, and make a decision based on the balance of probabilities the information or allegation provided is true or not.

If a parent feels that a decision taken by the Child Maintenance Service is incorrect, they can ask it to look at the decision again. This is known as a mandatory reconsideration. If a parent still feels that the decision taken is incorrect after they receive a mandatory reconsideration notice, they will be able to appeal to an independent tribunal.