The Department does not know whether all groups of parents find CMS equally accessible or whether CMS produces different outcomes for different groups. The Department’s research found that low-income families, those with disabilities, and those with higher levels of parental conflict, appear more likely to have no arrangement in place. For example, in 2021, 39% of separated parents who were either not working or were economically inactive had no child maintenance arrangements in place, compared with 21% of those who were employed or self-employed. Similarly, over a third (34%) of separated parents whose children had special education needs or a disability (SEND) had no arrangements, compared with less than a quarter (23%) of children who did not have SEND. The Department believes that it does not require information on parents’ protected characteristics to run its CMS scheme and has no information about the ethnic background of 25% of receiving parents, or 49% of paying parents. 13 Qq 84, 104 14 C&AG’s Report, para 1.11 15 Q 10; C&AG’s Report, para 1.22; The Department’s published Child Maintenance Service statistics: data to September 2021, section 5 for caseload information. 16 Qq 2, 11 14 Child Maintenance