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Written question asked by Sam Rushworth (Labour) on Monday, 23 February 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 25 February 2026. It was answered by Andrew Western (Labour) on Friday, 13 March 2026 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Children: Maintenance

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many paying parents were newly recorded as being in arrears by the Child Maintenance Service in each of the last 24 months.

Answer

The information requested is not readily available and providing it would incur disproportionate cost.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will do everything within its powers to make sure parents comply. Where parents fail to take responsibility for paying for their children, the Service will not hesitate to use the range of enforcement powers available to collect maintenance, combining robust negotiation activity with the highly effective use of its extensive range of Enforcement Powers.

CMS has a wide range of strong enforcement powers including deductions from earnings orders, removal of driving licences, disqualification from holding a passport, and committal to prison. The CMS also introduced powers to enable the deduction of child maintenance directly from a wider range of accounts, including certain joint and business accounts, and target complex earners via a calculation of notional income based on assets.

The Service is committed to using these powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
114960
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Children Arrears Maintenance
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk