Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will review the Child Maintenance Service and Government Legal Department procedures so as to minimise (a) unlawful enforcement and (b) the wasting of court time.

Where a paying parent fails to pay on time or in full, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) aims to take immediate action to recover the debt and re-establish compliance. The CMS is committed to using its wide-ranging enforcement powers proportionally, and in the best interests of children and separated families. Enforcement actions taken by Child Maintenance Service (CMS) must comply with the Human Rights Act 1998.

A number of administrative enforcement powers are available to the CMS that do not require the use of court time, in order to re-establish payments to children eg: a deduction from earnings order. A parent who is unhappy with the exercise of such powers can either appeal to an independent tribunal to reconsider their calculation and therefore what they owe, or, in the case of the more intrusive powers, can appeal directly to a court.