Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of current Direct Pay cases in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire that will transition to the Collect and Pay service following the implementation of child maintenance reforms.

Estimates of reform impacts are not available for local areas.

Recent numbers of paying parents and arrangements in the Direct Pay service at regional level are available on Stat Xplore [Stat-Xplore - Table View].

There will be two clear options for parents following the planned reforms. One is to make a family-based arrangement, and the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will provide parents with enhanced support to make and maintain these. Parents with a stable and compliant direct pay arrangement may well find this option meets their needs.

Where a family-based arrangement is not appropriate, or for those who prefer to be part of the statutory system, the CMS will operate a single service based on the current Collect and Pay model where it manages all payments, with an improved ability to identify and act on non-compliance.

As part of these reforms, we will halve the fees for those using the CMS, while maintaining a 20% fee for non-resident parents who refuse to pay up on time and in full. Parents currently in the Direct Pay system will have the choice of keeping their CMS case which will be moved to the new, improved service, giving them the peace of mind that payment will be monitored and any problems followed up, in return for a small fee – or have improved support to make and maintain a family-based arrangement.