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1304776

registered interest
date	22/03/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the outcome of the High Court case (R [Blundell & Ors] v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) whether her Department permits the placing of deductions for Child Maintenance payments ahead of all other deductions.
tabling member constituency	Bristol South
tabling member printed	Karin Smyth
uin	173080
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2021 answer text <p>Child Maintenance can be recovered from Universal Credit where claimants who should contribute towards their non-resident children have no earnings.</p><p> </p><p>Schedule 6 of the Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker's Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Claims and Payments) Regulations 2013 sets out the priority order in which Departmental staff must consider all deductions from Universal Credit, including Child Maintenance.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 26/03/2021 15:37:14 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4444 label Biography information for Karin Smyth

1303405

registered interest
date	17/03/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure prompt action on missed child maintenance payments to avoid the accrual of large arrears.
tabling member constituency	Gedling
tabling member printed	Tom Randall
uin	170762
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2021 answer text <p>Where someone fails to pay on time or in full, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will contact the parent concerned and aim to re-establish compliance to avoid the build-up of arrears.</p><p> </p><p>The CMS also has a range of strong enforcement powers, which can be used to to ensure children receive the financial support they deserve.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 22/03/2021 14:15:59 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4845 label Biography information for Tom Randall

1301864

registered interest
date	11/03/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to reduce the time taken for child maintenance payment assessments.
tabling member constituency	Wakefield
tabling member printed	Imran Ahmad Khan
uin	167355
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/03/2021 answer text <p>The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has introduced the Apply Online Service for customers which has reduced the average application time from 45 minutes to 15 minutes. This service also has a webchat function to support customers applying online.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 17/03/2021 13:54:03 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4841 label Biography information for Imran Ahmad Khan

1300399

registered interest
date	08/03/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2021 to Question 160841, what changes her Department is making as part of the overall improvement plan that will support increased compliance of child maintenance payments.
tabling member constituency	Stockport
tabling member printed	Navendu Mishra
uin	164668
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/03/2021 answer text <p>Child Maintenance Service are undertaking a range of changes as part of an overall improvement programme. This includes automation of simpler tasks and an improved digital offer, that will enable caseworkers to focus on more complex areas of work, supporting service improvements and increased compliance.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 11/03/2021 15:32:20 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4811 label Biography information for Navendu Mishra

1296930

registered interest
date	02/03/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of self-reported reductions in paying parent income in February 2020 on payments made by the Child Maintenance Service.
tabling member constituency	Newport West
tabling member printed	Ruth Jones
uin	161868
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/03/2021 answer text <p>The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) made temporary changes to its services to support wider departmental efforts through the Covid19 pandemic whilst remaining committed that over time everyone pays or receives the right amount of child maintenance.</p><p>During the early stages of the pandemic, the CMS began accepting on a temporary basis verbal evidence of a reduction in income and advised paying parents to reduce their payments and then retrospectively reviewed the calculation. This gave rise to the normal appeal rights for both parents.</p><p>The CMS has now restored most of its full capacity with new digital services. The Service has reverted to normal methods of evidence and are checking, reviewing and backdating income changes, ensuring the correct maintenance is being paid to the children.</p><p>The Service continued to ensure compliance where possible through Deductions from earnings orders and as a result, in the quarter ending March 2020, £28 million was collected via this method. Other substantial enforcement action relies on third parties, including Her Majesty’s courts, bailiffs and the banks, which were not in a position to support further enforcement action during the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis. The Service is now working with these parties to re-establish enforcement activity, where necessary.</p><p /> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 08/03/2021 17:15:03 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4716 label Biography information for Ruth Jones

1293657

registered interest
date	01/03/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to (a) improve the compliance rate of child maintenance payments and (b) ensure receiving parents do not fall into poverty due to missed or uncollected child maintenance payments.
tabling member constituency	Stockport
tabling member printed	Navendu Mishra
uin	160840
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2021 answer text <p>The Child Maintenance Service remains committed to ensuring that receiving parents get the money they are owed in maintenance payments, and this has been the case throughout the pandemic. The most recent quarterly statistics show that, in the quarter ending September 2020, 72 per cent of all paying parents paid some of their child maintenance through the Collect &amp; Pay service.</p><p> </p><p>Where compliance is not achieved we may deduct maintenance (and/or any arrears) direct from a paying parent’s. This is one of the Service’s most effective enforcement powers accounting for over half of the maintenance collected under Collect and Pay.</p><p> </p><p>The Service also has tough enforcement powers including deducting as a regular or lump sum deduction from bank accounts, whether they are solely or jointly held as part of a business. Alongside these powers are a range of civil enforcement actions that can be taken through the courts once a liability order has been obtained. These actions include referral to an enforcement agency, committal to prison, and/or disqualification of holding or obtaining a passport or driving licence.</p><p> </p><p>Child maintenance is not taken into account if a parent is also receiving income-related benefits, so can make a real difference to receiving parents and their children. We estimate that there are 120,000 fewer children in low-income households (measured on absolute low income after housing costs) as a result of child maintenance payments.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 04/03/2021 14:51:11 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4811 label Biography information for Navendu Mishra

1293658

registered interest
date	01/03/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to redeploy staff to child maintenance and enforcement to improve the service's compliance rate.
tabling member constituency	Stockport
tabling member printed	Navendu Mishra
uin	160841
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/03/2021 answer text <p>There are no current plans to redeploy any department colleagues to the Child Maintenance Service.</p><p> </p><p>However, the Child Maintenance Service are undertaking a range of changes as part of an overall improvement programme that will continue to support increased compliance.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 03/03/2021 17:16:17 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4811 label Biography information for Navendu Mishra

1288318

registered interest
date	22/02/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of ensuring that directors dividends are included in the initial calculation of child maintenance payments.
tabling member constituency	St Albans
tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
uin	156583
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2021 answer text <p>The 2012 Child Maintenance Service (CMS) moved from an assessment on a net income basis, used by the former Child Support Agency (CSA), to a gross income basis in order to simplify the calculation process. CMS assessments are based initially on gross income information received directly from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). As dividend payments are issued from a company’s annual profits after tax, they are not included in the initial child maintenance calculation.</p><p>For child support purposes, dividend payments are treated as unearned income, and can be taken into account via a variation application. Variations are specific types of changes which allow the CMS to look at some circumstances not covered by the basic maintenance calculation rules. If a variation succeeds the maintenance calculation will be adjusted accordingly. CMS can check HMRC data for dividend payments to support an application for a variation.</p><p>Taking information directly from HMRC allows us to capture a wide range of income types received by paying parents. Basing the assessment on gross income data has enabled the CMS to significantly speed up the set-up of new cases which can be key to securing regular payments.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 25/02/2021 17:55:07 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1285375

registered interest
date	09/02/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the Child Maintenance Service formula is calculated using the gross income of recipients; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of using the net income of recipients to make that calculation.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	151632
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2021 answer text <p>The former Child Support Agency (CSA) was consistently criticised for the complexity of its calculation process and the formation of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) in 2012 sought to address this by moving from an assessment on a net income basis to a gross income basis.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>CMS assessments are based initially on gross income information received directly from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Taking information directly from HMRC allows us to capture a wide range of income types received by paying parents. Basing the assessment on gross income data has enabled the Child Maintenance Service to significantly speed up the set-up of new cases which can be key to securing regular payments.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 22/02/2021 13:13:36 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1283159

registered interest
date	02/02/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2020 to Question 131324 on Children: Maintenance, how many child maintenance overpayments via direct pay have been reimbursed through (a) agreement between payments and (b) the courts.
tabling member constituency	Ellesmere Port and Neston
tabling member printed	Justin Madders
uin	147892
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2021 answer text <p>The Department does not have information available regarding Direct Pay cases with overpayments. When customers opt to use the Direct Pay service and a balance of unpaid child maintenance accrues or an overpayment occurs, normally customers need to make repayment arrangements between themselves.</p><p> </p><p>The Child Maintenance Service do not record information where reimbursement occurs due to agreement between parents or where they have contacted her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal service (HMCTS) on Direct Pay cases.</p><p> </p><p>A parent can request reimbursement from Child Maintenance Service on a Direct Pay case in certain scenarios. However, there is no available published data on such reimbursements.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 147893 question first answered 08/02/2021 15:20:47 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4418 label Biography information for Justin Madders