Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they consider the receipt of child maintenance to be important to the wellbeing of children.

The Government is committed to ensuring that parents meet their financial responsibilities towards their children where they don’t live with them. The role of the Child Maintenance Service is crucial to help meet this objective where parents cannot make a child maintenance arrangement between themselves. In the 12 months up to September 2025, the CMS arranged around £1.6 billion in child maintenance payments.

Where parents fail to meet their financial obligation towards their children, the Child Maintenance Service will use its wide range of strong enforcement powers to help ensure they fulfil their responsibility.