Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what factors were taken into account in setting the application fee for the Child Maintenance Service at £20.

Following the consultation ‘Strengthening families, promoting parental responsibility: the future of child maintenance’, and debates in both Houses, the level of the application fee was reduced from £100 to £20. The fee is intended to strike the right balance of ensuring parents do not default into the statutory scheme, without placing an unreasonable financial burden on those who are unable to reach a family based arrangement. It also provides a nominal contribution to a system that is expensive to administer.

Application fees do not apply to victims of domestic violence or to applicants aged 18 or under.