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824410

registered interest
date	17/01/2018
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 tackle miscalculations of child maintenance liabilities by paying parents who are (a) self-employed or (b)company directors.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	123211
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2018 answer text <p>The Child Maintenance Service’s definition of income includes almost all sources of gross income reported to HMRC by company directors or self-employed parents. The specially trained Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) are able to look into cases where there is concern about a parent’s income. The FIU has been expanded since it was set up in 2014; and between July and September 2017 it opened 1100 complex earner investigations. We recently launched a consultation on our new Child Maintenance Compliance and Arrears strategy which proposes further improvements to the treatment of the income of complex earners, such as high value assets owned by a parent being used to create a notional income.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 22/01/2018 15:29:35 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

824411

registered interest
date	17/01/2018
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, if the Government will issue new guidance to Financial Investigation Units in the Child Maintenance Service for dealing with miscalculations of child maintenance liabilities by paying parents who are self-employed or company directors.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	123212
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2018 answer text <p>Current guidance for all Child Maintenance Service caseworkers is to refer cases to the Financial Investigations Unit (FIU) should there be any credible, evidence based challenges to a child maintenance assessment which are unable to be resolved through our routine income verification processes.</p><p> </p><p>The guidance used by FIU Investigators is updated as required in regards to all areas for investigation including possible miscalculations of maintenance for clients who are deemed complex earners.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 23/01/2018 13:26:04 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

824525

registered interest
date	17/01/2018
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 reasons arrears payable for child maintenance that require the Child Maintenance Service to arrange payments via the employer only attract a one off fee rather than an additional percentage charge of the arrear.
tabling member constituency	Stirling
tabling member printed	Stephen Kerr
uin	123326
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2018 answer text <p>When the Child Maintenance Service arranges for maintenance payments to be taken directly from the parent’s earnings via the employer, this is done through a Deductions from Earnings Order. The Paying Parent is charged a one off £50 enforcement fee for the Deduction from Earnings Order, as well as on-going collection charges of 20% of the maintenance liability (including any arrears) for using the Collect and Pay service. Charges are designed to encourage compliance.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 22/01/2018 15:29:56 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
tabling member	4604 label Biography information for Stephen Kerr

823573

registered interest
date	16/01/2018
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 estimate her Department has made of the number of paying parents involved in pay arrangements though the child maintence service who are listed as self-employed or as company directors.
tabling member constituency	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
tabling member printed	Ged Killen
uin	123037
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2018 answer text <p>The department does not hold data on the number of paying parents who are acting as company directors.</p><p> </p><p>The Child Maintenance Service is currently in the process of assuring employment data and therefore this will be available at a future date when it would be released in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 22/01/2018 15:28:39 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
tabling member	4672 label Biography information for Ged Killen

819805

registered interest
date	10/01/2018
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 the average length of time is for her Department to close a case when a Child Maintenance Service order expires; and what targets are in place for such cases to be closed.
tabling member constituency	Wansbeck
tabling member printed	Ian Lavery
uin	121877
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/01/2018 answer text <p>We have interpreted the expiring of a Child Maintenance Service order to mean the ending of Child Maintenance liability on a Child Support Agency (CSA) case as part of our case closure process.</p><p> </p><p>The process to end the liabilities (stop accruing maintenance) in all Child Support Agency cases began in 2014. The Case closure process involves sending the customer 3 letters over the case closure journey to instigate, remind and confirm liability is ending, enabling the customer to make alternate arrangements over the period. .</p><p> </p><p>At end of liability, clients are told that their Child Support Agency child maintenance arrangement has ended. The Non Resident Parent will be told when to make a final maintenance payment and to keep paying any arrears. The Child Support Agency (CSA) will continue to collect and pay arrears payments that are made prior to the case fully closing - but regular maintenance collections and payments will stop after a 6 month fixed period.</p><p> </p><p>When liability has ended the case enters “arrears cleanse”. The purpose of this period (which may take up to a further 6 months) is to examine the debt balances on the case to address any anomalies and so calculate a “stable” arrears figure. This involves reviewing any suspended and deferred debt. It includes the write off of debt in circumstances covered by existing debt write off powers.</p><p> </p><p>A case can only close once all arrears have been cleared or collected. For those cases where the child maintenance liability ended on or after 1<sup>st</sup> April 2014 as part of this process the average length of time for the Department to close a case was 27 weeks, this is based on data up 31<sup>st</sup> September 2017. The department aims to end liability on all Child Support Agency cases by 31 December 2018.</p><p> </p><p>In terms of targets, the department have a clear timeline for ending liability for individual cases 6 months after selection but there time taken to actually close the case will be dependant on the arrears position and the amount of work outstanding.. Whilst there are no specific targets for the process of closing cases once liability has ended, for most cases this should be around 6 months, and the exact time will depend on case circumstances. This relates to Child Support Agency cases only, and only those cases that are subject to the case closure programme. We have no specific closure data for Child Maintenance Service (CMS) cases, and they are not part of the case closure programme.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 18/01/2018 14:00:10 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
tabling member	4139 label Biography information for Ian Lavery

805984

registered interest
date	13/12/2017
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 estimate he has made of the number of people who end up in rent arrears due to the underpayment of child support.
tabling member constituency	Hemsworth
tabling member printed	Jon Trickett
uin	119194
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2017 answer text <p>The Government believes parents are best able to make decisions over how they manage their finances to support their children so we do not collect data on how child maintenance is spent including whether it is used for rent. We also do not collect data on families in rental arrears. We expect parents no matter their employment type to support their children and will take robust action where non-payment of maintenance is reported to re-establish payment as soon as possible.</p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage grouped question UIN 119195 question first answered 18/12/2017 17:28:20 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	410 label Biography information for Jon Trickett

805985

registered interest
date	13/12/2017
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 estimate his Department has of how many people eligible for Child Support payments end up being in rent arrears when the payer is self-employed.
tabling member constituency	Hemsworth
tabling member printed	Jon Trickett
uin	119195
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2017 answer text <p>The Government believes parents are best able to make decisions over how they manage their finances to support their children so we do not collect data on how child maintenance is spent including whether it is used for rent. We also do not collect data on families in rental arrears. We expect parents no matter their employment type to support their children and will take robust action where non-payment of maintenance is reported to re-establish payment as soon as possible.</p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage grouped question UIN 119194 question first answered 18/12/2017 17:28:20 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	410 label Biography information for Jon Trickett

804374

registered interest
date	11/12/2017
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, if he will direct the Child Maintenance Service to recognise care provided by grandparents and other family carers when calculating maintenance payments for parents who share the care of their children.
tabling member constituency	Glenrothes
tabling member printed	Peter Grant
uin	118578
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/12/2017 answer text <p>Our approach to shared care is to amend the maintenance calculation if the child in a case spends more than 52 nights a year at the same address as the non-resident parent. This is to recognise the additional costs directly borne by a parent to be able to provide shared care, such as having an extra bedroom in which the child can stay.</p><p> </p><p>There are no plans to expand the shared care allowance to include overnight care that grandparents and other family carers provide as the responsibility lies with the non-resident parent to pay the maintenance liability.</p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 14/12/2017 13:04:11 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	4466 label Biography information for Peter Grant

801013

registered interest
date	05/12/2017
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 his Department plans to bring forward proposals to factor unearned income into child maintenance payment plans.
tabling member constituency	Paisley and Renfrewshire North
tabling member printed	Gavin Newlands
uin	117572
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/12/2017 answer text <p>The Child Maintenance Scheme already allows for a paying parent’s unearned income to be taken into account within a child maintenance calculation.</p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 11/12/2017 17:06:21 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	4420 label Biography information for Gavin Newlands

795076

registered interest
date	24/11/2017
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 there is a backlog to implement a change of circumstance request made by a parent with care in respect of a non-resident parent for the Child Maintenance Service.
tabling member constituency	Ellesmere Port and Neston
tabling member printed	Justin Madders
uin	115618
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/11/2017 answer text <p>Child Maintenance Service (CMS) does not regularly collate information relating specifically to changes raised by a Receiving Parent (formerly PWC) in respect of a Paying Parent (formerly NRP). The CMS is able to provide information on all change of circumstance requests (those requested by paying or receiving parents) and this is held in the table below.</p><p>The average clearance time has increased over time as CMS caseload has increased. The data reported excludes those cases belonging to the CSA Scheme, as these cases are characteristically quite different and do not reflect the performance of the CMS</p><p>Scheme. The data available begins in November 2015.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Month</p></td><td><p>Average Clearance Time (Calendar Days)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nov-15</p></td><td><p>6.78</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dec-15</p></td><td><p>6.90</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jan-16</p></td><td><p>7.75</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Feb-16</p></td><td><p>7.19</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mar-16</p></td><td><p>7.89</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-16</p></td><td><p>8.69</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May-16</p></td><td><p>8.78</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jun-16</p></td><td><p>9.91</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jul-16</p></td><td><p>9.71</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aug-16</p></td><td><p>11.32</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-16</p></td><td><p>11.76</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Oct-16</p></td><td><p>10.89</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nov-16</p></td><td><p>11.45</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dec-16</p></td><td><p>11.90</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jan-17</p></td><td><p>12.54</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Feb-17</p></td><td><p>13.08</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mar-17</p></td><td><p>13.40</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-17</p></td><td><p>15.24</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May-17</p></td><td><p>16.71</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jun-17</p></td><td><p>16.00</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jul-17</p></td><td><p>16.78</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aug-17</p></td><td><p>16.44</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-17</p></td><td><p>16.69</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>CMS change requests require varying times to complete depending upon the nature and complexity of the request. There will always be an element of work on hand awaiting action.</p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 30/11/2017 12:23:46 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	4418 label Biography information for Justin Madders