We asked the Department how it ensured that its approach to monitoring child maintenance cases was properly identifying and addressing cases of domestic abuse and coercive control, rather than waiting to be alerted through non-payment or through the receiving parent raising concerns, especially when they might not be in a position to do so. We were particularly concerned to hear of cases where parents reported that their relationship with the other parent had deteriorated as a result of them requesting a review of their finances. The NAO reported that the Department does not monitor the experiences of all customers of its Direct Pay service. The Department acknowledged that there were customers with whom it would not engage regularly.39 The Department also does not routinely contact customers after they have stopped using the CMS and therefore does not know whether domestic abuse and coercive control was a factor in that decision, or the long-term impact of the CMS on their relationship. It told us that “there is an equal amount of evidence—or more, even—of a family closing a case because it is actually working for them now and they do not need the service any longer as it has brought them together and the arrangements are working for them”.40 However, a Departmental survey found that 13 months after their Direct Pay calculation, 19% of parents had left the CMS and had no form of maintenance at all.41