Children in poverty: Child Maintenance Service

Work and Pensions Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 18 May 2022 Closed: 31 Oct 2023 Parliament page
Children in poverty: Child Maintenance Service is the third and final part of the Committee’s wider inquiry into children in poverty, following on from the Measurement and targets , and no recourse to public funds . The Committee looked into: How many children in the UK live in separated families? … Read more
16 Recommendations
15 Conclusions
1 Report
4 Oral sessions
4 Letters
4 Events
Activity timeline 14 events
6 Sep
2023
Correspondence
13 Jul
2023
Correspondence
6 Jul
2023
Report published
27 Apr
2023
Report published
23 Feb
2023
Correspondence
1 Feb
2023
Correspondence
18 Jan
2023
Oral evidence
18 Jan
2023
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 15, Palace of Westminster
2 Nov
2022
Oral evidence
2 Nov
2022
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 5, Palace of Westminster
19 Oct
2022
Oral evidence
19 Oct
2022
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 5, Palace of Westminster
Oral evidence sessions 4 sessions
18 Jan 2023
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Work and Pensions Committee
Arlene Sugden · Department for Work and Pensions Hilda Massey · Department for Work and Pensions Viscount Younger of Leckie · Department for Work and Pensions
2 Nov 2022
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Work and Pensions Committee
Joshua Reddaway · National Audit Office
19 Oct 2022
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Work and Pensions Committee
Dr Christine Davies · Royal Holloway University of London Dr Jon Symonds · University of Bristol Dr Mia Hakovirta · Turku University, Finland Professor Esther Dermott · University of Bristol
7 Sep 2022
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Work and Pensions Committee
Caitlin Logan · One Parent Families Scotland Cristina Odone · Centre for Social Justice Meghan Meek-O’Connor · Save the Children Michael Lewkowicz · Families Need Fathers Victoria Benson · Gingerbread
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Sixth Report - Children in poverty: Child Maintenance Service HC 272 27 Apr 2023 31 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
31 results
1 Conclusion Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Committee welcomes new Child Support Bills for domestic abuse and enforcement improvements
We welcome the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Bill and the Child Support (Enforcement) Bill and their aims. We provide information later in this Report on how these pieces of legislation will help improve the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance … Read more
Government Response
The government shares the Committee's view on effective enforcement and states that DWP has already made substantial improvements to the CMS enforcement process, aiming to maximize efficiency and effectiveness on a case-by-case basis.
Department for Work and Pensions
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2 Conclusion Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Require Department to proactively monitor and regularly report on Direct Pay arrangement effectiveness
One of the purposes of the reforms introducing the Child Maintenance Service was to increase the number of effective arrangements between parents. There is a paucity of data on how many Direct Pay arrangements are effective, which in turn obscures … Read more
Government Response
The government highlights that DWP has conducted two large-scale research projects (in 2016 and 2022) on Direct Pay effectiveness, showing high payment rates for enduring arrangements. It also notes that CMS sends SMS messages at three months and annually to remind parents to report issues, and parents can switch to Collect & Pay. The government commits to *considering* further research to support any future policy reforms.
Department for Work and Pensions
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3 Conclusion Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Systematically and swiftly move ineffective Direct Pay cases into Collect and Pay
Cases moving from Direct Pay to Collect and Pay appear to have substantial arrears on average. The Department should more systematically and swiftly move ineffective Direct Pay cases into Collect and Pay. To do this, the Department should consider imposing … Read more
Government Response
The government stated it has already introduced dedicated teams to swift action requests for change to Collect and Pay and allows 24/7 reporting of missed payments. It is also embarking on a Modernisation Programme to separate the administration of direct pay and collect and pay cases and improve communications to parents on reporting ineffective arrangements.
Department for Work and Pensions
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4 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Require Government to set out plans improving effectiveness and speed of child maintenance enforcement
For many receiving parents child maintenance payments are vital to avoiding or at least stymying the effects of hardship but enforcement is currently slow and often ineffective. We have heard that, while enforcement on Collect and Pay has improved, for … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledged the need for effective enforcement and stated it has already improved enforcement processes, including virtual court presenting. It highlights ongoing legislative changes via the Child Support (Enforcement) Private Members Bill, which, if passed, will remove the requirement for court-issued liability orders and introduce administrative orders to substantially speed up enforcement.
Department for Work and Pensions
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5 Conclusion Acknowledged
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Assess risk of fraud and error within child maintenance and publish annual estimates.
Evidence to us has raised particular concern about the fraudulent practices employed by some paying parents to reduce maintenance calculations but the Department has not made an estimate of the level of undetected customer fraud and error within the system. … Read more
Government Response
The government outlined its existing controls to combat fraud, including a dedicated Financial Investigation Unit and reliance on HMRC data for most income. It stated it is planning to include unearned income in initial calculations using HMRC data and has consulted on this, but did not commit to assessing or publishing an overall fraud and error estimate or reduction targets as recommended.
Department for Work and Pensions
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6 Conclusion Rejected
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Provide receiving parents with illustrative evidence list and guidance for FIU referrals.
The Department’s own assessment to the NAO “that around 50% of fraud referrals to its Financial Investigations Unit are unfounded” indicates that the system is not functioning as it should be, and, as we will return to later, demonstrates how … Read more
Government Response
The government disagreed with the committee's assessment that the Financial Investigation Unit referral system is not functioning correctly. While it continues to enhance its fraud strategy and noted a high percentage of investigations result in assessment changes, it only committed to exploring options to educate customers on services offered, rather than providing specific guidance or setting out how it will reduce unfounded claims.
Department for Work and Pensions
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7 Conclusion Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Assign specialist caseworkers to complex self-employment and non-earned income child maintenance cases.
Cases are complex where the paying parent’s income is from self-employment or non- earned income. To ensure that a fair arrangement is reached for both receiving and paying parents in these circumstances, a specialist caseworker should be assigned to such … Read more
Government Response
The government stated that complex earnings (like unearned income) are currently handled through caseworker intervention or referred to a specialist financial investigation unit. It is planning to include unearned income in the initial calculation using HMRC data, which aims to automate and safeguard against misstatement, thereby improving the process of identifying income sources.
Department for Work and Pensions
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8 Recommendation Deferred
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Confirm plans for implementing partial child maintenance deductions in Universal Credit and their priority.
Competing priorities for the Universal Credit system, specifically work on fraud and error and the automation of processes to allow the expansion of the move to Universal Credit, mean the Department has not undertaken work to implement capability in the … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges that legislative changes would be needed for partial deductions but states there are no estimated timescales due to current Universal Credit system work focusing on fraud, error, and migration.
Department for Work and Pensions
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9 Recommendation Deferred
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Seek legislative authority to process partial Universal Credit deductions for child maintenance arrears.
The Department should seek, as part of any future legislative change in the Child Maintenance Service system, the authority to process partial deductions from Universal Credit for child maintenance arrears.
Government Response
The government commits to amending legislation for partial deductions when it can be implemented but states there are no estimated timescales as Universal Credit development is currently focused on other priorities.
Department for Work and Pensions
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10 Recommendation Rejected
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Revise Universal Credit deduction priority list to place child maintenance above government debt.
Child maintenance currently ranks low on the priority list for Universal Credit deductions at twelfth, below deductions for DWP debt, such as advance payments. We disagree that pursuing such debt should hold a higher priority than child maintenance. Deductions for … Read more
Government Response
The government rejected the recommendation to reprioritise child maintenance deductions above government debt. It stated that child maintenance is already considered before other government debts like benefit overpayments and there are no current plans to alter the existing deduction priority list, citing the need to balance various deduction types.
Department for Work and Pensions
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11 Recommendation Acknowledged
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Provide a detailed timetable for implementing recommendations from domestic abuse review work.
We thank Dr Samantha Callan for her independent and detailed report on the Child Maintenance Service’s response to domestic abuse and we welcome the broadly positive approach the Government has taken in its response to that review, accepting most of … Read more
Government Response
The government outlines several ongoing actions related to the domestic abuse review, including incorporating principles into training, reviewing materials, and trialling single named caseworkers, but does not provide a specific timetable for this work as requested.
Department for Work and Pensions
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12 Recommendation Not Addressed
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Set out intended timetable for commencing provisions of Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Bill.
We strongly support the aims of the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Bill, which would allow domestic abuse cases to skip Direct Pay and move straight to Collect and Pay. We welcome the Government’s support for that legislation. In response … Read more
Government Response
The government details various ongoing actions and reviews within the CMS to support victims of domestic abuse but does not provide a specific timetable for commencing the provisions of the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Bill as requested.
Department for Work and Pensions
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13 Recommendation Deferred
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Produce an analysis of reasons for increased families lacking child maintenance arrangements.
The proportion of families with private arrangements has increased since the 2012 reforms but this has also been accompanied by an increase in the number of families without an arrangement. There is evidence that a significant number of Children in … Read more
Government Response
The government stated it has not conducted specific research into the increase in families without child maintenance arrangements, although it monitors this annually and has general research on separated families. It listed reasons why some parents don't want arrangements and concluded that it does not currently plan further research on this specific increase but will consider it as part of any future policy reforms.
Department for Work and Pensions
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14 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Conduct research on parents lacking wanted maintenance arrangements and plan proactive family support.
Research like the Government’s 2022 separated families survey helps form a useful evidence base for effective policy formation. Research on why parents do not have maintenance arrangements but want one would be valuable. We recommend that the Government conduct further … Read more
Government Response
The government stated it continues to monitor separated families and is undertaking initiatives to increase CMS awareness. It is training staff in jobcentres and Universal Credit to signpost parents to the "Get Help Arranging Child Maintenance" service for support. It will consider further research on reasons for not having arrangements as part of any future policy reforms.
Department for Work and Pensions
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15 Conclusion Acknowledged
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Current child maintenance levels undermine work incentives and Universal Credit objectives.
Government policy is to encourage work, returning to work and in-work progression as far as possible to help reduce poverty, however multiple reports have raised concern both about the affordability of maintenance payments and distorted the work incentives caused by … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges concerns about maintenance affordability and work incentives, stating it has begun a fundamental review of the child maintenance calculation, including updating research and considering parental incomes to reflect current social trends.
Department for Work and Pensions
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16 Recommendation Accepted in Part
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Urge Government to analyse maintenance affordability and propose urgent changes within six months.
The unaffordability of maintenance for some parents is causing severe hardship and distress. It also forms a barrier to compliance. Updating maintenance levels and thresholds should therefore be seen as a priority. We recommend the Government completes its analysis of … Read more
Government Response
The government accepts the need to update the child maintenance calculation due to affordability concerns and has begun a fundamental review and updated research, but does not commit to completing this analysis or making proposals within the recommended urgent six-month timeframe.
Department for Work and Pensions
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17 Recommendation Acknowledged
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Legislation requires rebalancing to enable easier changes to child maintenance thresholds.
As part of its work on affordability, the Department should also seek to rebalance legislation so that changes, such as uprating maintenance thresholds, can be made more readily, for example through secondary legislation.
Government Response
The government states that consideration will be given to moving child maintenance calculation provisions into secondary legislation to allow for more readily updated maintenance thresholds, as part of a broader fundamental review.
Department for Work and Pensions
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18 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Child welfare and poverty implications must be prioritised in maintenance payment calculations.
The Department’s work on maintenance calculations should prioritise the interests and welfare of the impacted children. In particular the potential implications of changes to maintenance levels on the number of children in poverty must be carefully considered and the implications … Read more
Government Response
The government commits to a fundamental review of the child maintenance calculation, including updating research on children's costs, assessing the scope for including both parental incomes, and exploring legislative changes, aligning with the call to prioritise children's welfare.
Department for Work and Pensions
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19 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Require Department to consider income-share model for child maintenance after affordability work.
We have heard that the current child maintenance system incentivises parental conflict under a “winner takes all system” and there appear to be strong arguments in favour of reform away from such a system. However, reform towards an alternative model, … Read more
Government Response
The government accepts the recommendation to consider an income-share model, stating it has begun a fundamental review of the child maintenance calculation to update research and ensure it reflects today’s social trends, which will include assessing the scope to incorporate both parental incomes. Any necessary changes would require primary legislation and will be explored at the earliest opportunity.
Department for Work and Pensions
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20 Conclusion Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
CMS guidance on 50/50 shared care and child benefit use is inadequate.
The CMS should ensure its guidance is clear on situations of 50/50 day-to-day care and that, where court orders are made under the expectation of care being equally split, no maintenance is deemed to be due. The use of child … Read more
Government Response
The government committed to reviewing CMS caseworker guidance on 50/50 day-to-day care to ensure accurate decisions using all available evidence, including court orders. However, it disagreed that child benefit is a blunt tool for determining the receiving parent, defending its use as a good indicator due to its alignment with the CMS's day-to-day care policy.
Department for Work and Pensions
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21 Conclusion Rejected
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Child benefit splitting for parents with shared care is currently impossible and needed.
Presently it is not possible for child benefit to be split between parents, even in cases of equally shared care. The Department should work with HMRC to enable parents with shared care to split child benefit between them.
Government Response
The government rejected the recommendation to enable splitting child benefit between parents with shared care. It argued that existing measures provide appropriate support and that splitting payments would introduce additional operational burdens, complexity for claimants, and costs for the Exchequer.
Department for Work and Pensions
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22 Conclusion Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
CMS strategy for poorly evidenced CSA-inherited arrears requires clarification and investigation.
We are concerned about the prospect that the Child Maintenance Service is pursuing arrears inherited from the Child Support Agency that cannot be properly evidenced, although we acknowledge not collecting such arrears would impact the relevant receiving parent. We request … Read more
Government Response
The government states it has already addressed historic CSA arrears through an 'arrears cleanse' process, allowing parents to make representations and disputing debt. Uncollectable debt can then be considered for write-off through existing procedures.
Department for Work and Pensions
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23 Conclusion Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
CMS correspondence on arrears accrual lacks clarity, undermining paying parents' confidence.
We have received evidence critical of the correspondence provided by the Child Maintenance Service. For example, paying parents reported asking for details on how substantial arrears had accrued and receiving no effective information in response. This risks exacerbating hostility by … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges issues with historic CSA arrears and states it previously addressed these by closing old cases and conducting a 'case cleanse' process to stabilize debt balances. Both parents were given outstanding debt information and an opportunity to dispute it before collections began.
Department for Work and Pensions
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24 Recommendation Rejected
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Introduce means-testing system for Collect and Pay fees for low-income parents.
We have heard evidence that was strongly critical of the effectiveness of Collect and Pay fees. Such fees are particularly pernicious for parents on low incomes and we recommend that the Government should introduce a system for the means-testing of … Read more
Government Response
The government rejects means-testing Collect and Pay fees, stating that charges are the right approach to encourage parents to use direct pay arrangements. It believes means-testing could create perverse incentives and add complexity to the system.
Department for Work and Pensions
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25 Conclusion Acknowledged
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Collect and Pay fees remain unjustified for child maintenance cases involving domestic abuse
It is particularly difficult to understand how fees, intended to incentivise the use of Direct Pay, can be justified in cases where the Department appears to have accepted such arrangements are not appropriate, such as in cases of domestic abuse. … Read more
Government Response
The government states it will look at the current charging structure and its interaction with proposed changes for victims of domestic abuse, as part of developing secondary legislation for the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Bill. It does not commit to immediately waiving fees.
Department for Work and Pensions
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26 Conclusion Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Strong support for named caseworkers to improve CMS customer service outcomes
We strongly support the Child Maintenance Service’s plans to move to having a named caseworker, initially for customers in abusive situations before eventually being rolled out to all customers. The experience of having to recount one’s story multiple times was … Read more
Government Response
The government has commenced a pilot program providing a single named caseworker for complex domestic abuse cases, accepting recommendations from an independent review. Findings from this pilot will inform future decisions regarding a wider rollout as part of CMS's Modernisation programme.
Department for Work and Pensions
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27 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Publish annual customer service data from CMS to demonstrate improvements publicly
We have heard that perceptions of the levels of customer service of the CMS continue to be poor for both paying and receiving parents. The Department should develop its management information to allow it to demonstrate it is delivering good … Read more
Government Response
The government states it is focused on improving customer experience with a new Customer Experience Strategy and ongoing modernisation. It notes that the 2020/21 Customer Experience Survey annual report was published in May 2023 and that it reviews its CES reports annually, implying existing public reporting.
Department for Work and Pensions
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28 Recommendation Acknowledged
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Review support and training for CMS staff within six months and report findings
We acknowledge that staff working for the Child Maintenance Service can have a difficult caseload and come across difficult and distressing situations routinely as part of their work. To ensure that staff are able to support customers, appropriate training and … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees on the importance of staff support and training, stating that CMS already proactively and continually reviews, evaluates, and enhances support tools and training materials. It commits to taking timely action to identify and offer additional training where improvements can be made, but does not commit to the requested specific review within six months or reporting findings to the Committee.
Department for Work and Pensions
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29 Recommendation Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Trial different CMS helpline opening hours, including weekends, to improve accessibility
The current opening hours of the CMS helpline were criticised in our roundtable discussions, particularly from parents who had work commitments. We recommend the Government trial different opening hours for the CMS, to include weekends. This could be achieved by … Read more
Government Response
The government states that CMS opening hours are regularly reviewed based on demand and that they have recently extended telephony service to 6pm on weekdays. However, it does not commit to trialling weekend opening hours as recommended.
Department for Work and Pensions
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30 Conclusion Accepted
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
CMS customer contact methods via letters or telephone remain slow and antiquated
Customers only being able to contact the CMS via letters or telephone is slow and antiquated. The CMS should introduce an electronic messaging system, or at least an ability for customers to contact them by e-mail to provide greater levels … Read more
Government Response
The government states that CMS has already significantly improved communication channels by introducing digital services as the preferred contact method, allowing customers to update information and request changes 24/7. This implies an existing electronic system.
Department for Work and Pensions
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31 Conclusion Acknowledged
Sixth Report - Children in poverty…
Child Maintenance Service plagued by issues of ineffective enforcement and unaffordable payments
In summary: Our inquiry has found a number of issues with the Child Maintenance Service that need to be addressed. Receiving parents continue to report great frustration at ineffective and slow enforcement. Paying parents have described distress and being pushed … Read more
Government Response
The government thanks the Committee for its thorough inquiry into the Child Maintenance Service and welcomes the report, noting its importance in tackling child poverty and stating that detailed responses to recommendations are provided subsequently.
Department for Work and Pensions
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Government Response AI assessment · 31 of 16 classified
Accepted 15
Accepted in Part 1
Acknowledged 7
Deferred 3
Not Addressed 1
Rejected 4
Total 16 recs + 15 conclusions
Correspondence 4 letters
6 Sep 2023 Correspondence with the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State relating to Children in poverty: Child Maintenance Service
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13 Jul 2023 Correspondence with Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State relating to Children in Poverty: Child Maintenance Service Report
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23 Feb 2023 Correspondence with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State relating to Children in poverty: Child Maintenance Service
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1 Feb 2023 Correspondence with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State about the Children in poverty: Child Maintenance Service inquiry
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