Child Maintenance

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 12 Jan 2022 Closed: 14 Oct 2022 Parliament page
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) - set up in 2012 to replace the previous Child Support Agency - is for separated families who have not been able to reach a private arrangement about how their children’s living costs will be paid. The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that £934 … Read more
29 Recommendations
7 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
1 Event
Activity timeline 4 events
14 Oct
2022
Report published
22 Jun
2022
Report published
16 Mar
2022
Oral evidence
16 Mar
2022
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Wilson Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
16 Mar 2022
View on parliament.uk
Child Maintenance
Arlene Sugden · Department for Work and Pensions Hilda Massey · Department for Work and Pensions Peter Schofield · Department for Work and Pensions
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Ninth Report - Child Maintenance HC 255 22 Jun 2022 36 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
2 results
Clear
10 Recommendation Accepted in Part
Ninth Report - Child Maintenance
Take-up of the Department’s CMS scheme is substantially lower than it expected.
Take-up of the Department’s CMS scheme is substantially lower than it expected. The Department estimated that 18% of separated families used the CMS scheme in 2019– 20, compared to its expectation of 33% by 2019.14 In 2021, the Department found … Read more
Government Response
The government introduced a new digital service that has increased applications and will regularly assess the impact on the caseload rather than develop a specific action plan. They are also developing referral processes within the Universal Credit programme and a communication programme to promote its benefits.
HM Treasury
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11 Recommendation Accepted in Part
Ninth Report - Child Maintenance
The Department told us that it “absolutely” wanted parents who were not receiving maintenance because...
The Department told us that it “absolutely” wanted parents who were not receiving maintenance because the other parent was not willing to pay to feel that they can come to the Child Maintenance Service and that it will support them. … Read more
Government Response
The government introduced a new digital service that has increased applications and will regularly assess the impact on the caseload rather than develop a specific action plan. They are also developing referral processes within the Universal Credit programme and a communication programme to promote its benefits.
HM Treasury
View details
Government Response AI assessment · 30 of 29 classified
Accepted 14
Accepted in Part 2
Deferred 2
Rejected 12
Total 29 recs + 7 conclusions