Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the child maintenance service provides (a) oversight and (b) review mechanisms to help ensure (i) consistency and (ii) accountability in the application of caseworker discretion to arrears repayment schedules.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) adheres to the DWP Quality Framework, which deploys a three-line defence model for all decisions affecting the calculation and payment of maintenance.

The Debt Steer provides a policy-based framework for arrears negotiation. Its purpose is to ensure arrears are collected as promptly and reliably as possible, taking into account all relevant circumstances and financial situation.

Operational instructions and the Child Maintenance Decision Makers’ Guide are the tools used by caseworkers in applying a discretionary decision to negotiate an arrangement that extends beyond a two-year period, to ensure a reliable and sustainable plan for the payment of arrears by the paying parent in the shortest possible period of time. When the CMS makes a discretionary decision, caseworkers must consider the welfare of any child affected by that decision.