Child Maintenance Service

Mr Will Forster, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Woking, asked the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Andrew Western, about the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service in collecting payments. In response, Andrew Western stated that the Child Maintenance Service is committed to ensuring that separated parents support their children financially and to taking robust enforcement action against those who do not. He noted that between March 2023 and March this year, the percentage of parents paying something towards maintenance through the collect and pay service increased from 65% to 69%. The Government recognizes that child maintenance payments play a crucial role in keeping hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty each year and is determined to increase those collection levels further. Mr Forster followed up by noting that around half of children in separated families, or 1.8 million children, are receiving no support from their non-residential parent. He asked when this figure might change. Andrew Western acknowledged that this figure, which he stated is actually around 40%, is not good enough. He explained that while there are varied reasons for this, including some parents not wanting an arrangement, the government is looking at a recently concluded consultation on the future of the Child Maintenance Service and will consider next steps to try to increase collection levels. Andrew Cooper, the Labour MP for Mid Cheshire, then intervened, stating that two of his constituents had contacted him with separate but similar cases relating to obtaining child maintenance payments from abusive ex-partners. He explained that in both cases, the abusers had been able to use features of the system to avoid paying their fair share, leaving his constituents with a shortfall of thousands of pounds. He asked what steps are being taken to reform the child maintenance system to protect victims of abuse, such as his constituents. Andrew Western responded that the Department takes domestic abuse extremely seriously and that the recently concluded consultation looked to address some of the issues with the direct pay service, which has been open to abuse and has led to victims of domestic abuse continuing to be terrorized. He stated that this is unacceptable and that the government will look to address it moving forward.