PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Children: Maintenance (9 September 2024)

Question Asked

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims were processed by the Child Maintenance Agency in each of the last five years; and how many appeals were (a) lodged, (b) fully processed, (c) upheld and (d) rejected.

Asked by:
Nick Timothy (Conservative)

Answer

A principle of child maintenance is to increase levels of cooperation between separated parents and encourage parents to meet their responsibilities to provide their children with financial support.

Where a family-based child maintenance arrangement is not suitable the Child Maintenance Service offers a statutory scheme for those parents who need it.

When a parent joins the statutory scheme Child Maintenance Service will do everything within its powers to ensure parents comply and meet their obligations to children.

In the 12 months up to March 2024 there were 131,300 claims to the child maintenance statutory scheme (rounded to the nearest 100) and the child maintenance service arranged £1.4 billion child maintenance through the statutory scheme, an increase from £1.2 billion during the previous 12 months.

CMS are wholly committed to delivering the best possible service to all customers within our growing caseload. When a Parent or their representative disagrees with a decision about a child maintenance calculation, they have the right to appeal. Before they do this, they must first ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration.

If the Child Maintenance Service decides not to change its decision the parent can follow the formal appeal process, handled by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) where an independent tribunal will look at the Child Maintenance Service’s decision.

The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) and the latest statistics are available up to March 2024.

Table 3 from the latest National tables contains the number of arrangements joining the Child Maintenance Service each quarter from January 2015 to March 2024. Table 11 contains information on the number of appeals made by parents to His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service to review a decision made by the Child Maintenance Service each quarter from April 2015 to March 2024.

Excerpts for the last five years for both tables are shown below.

Table 3: Intake, Great Britain, April 2019 to March 2024

Quarter of Application

Intake
[note 1]

Apr to Jun 2019

22,300

Jul to Sep 2019

22,100

Oct to Dec 2019

17,200

Jan to Mar 2020

20,300

Apr to Jun 2020 [note 2]

13,100

Jul to Sep 2020

21,800

Oct to Dec 2020

17,600

Jan to Mar 2021

18,400

Apr to Jun 2021

19,700

Jul to Sep 2021

21,300

Oct to Dec 2021

19,500

Jan to Mar 2022

26,900

Apr to Jun 2022

32,000

Jul to Sep 2022

33,600

Oct to Dec 2022

27,200

Jan to Mar 2023

32,400

Apr to Jun 2023

32,400

Jul to Sep 2023

34,700

Oct to Dec 2023

28,600

Jan to Mar 2024

35,600

Source: Child Maintenance Service Management Information

Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.

Note Number

Note Text

note 1

Intake includes new arrangements as well as arrangements where the parent has closed an existing arrangement and then decided to re-open it at a later date.

note 2

During the quarter ending June 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak may have reduced the demand for new Child Service Maintenance arrangements.

Table 11: Appeals, Great Britain, April 2019 to March 2024

Quarter

Appeals Received

CMS Outcome: Withdrawn

CMS Outcome:

Tribunal Service Outcome:

Tribunal Service Outcome:

Total Clearances

[note 1]

[note 2]

Revised [note 3]

Upheld [note 4]

Dismissed [note 5]

[note 6]

Apr to Jun 2019

965

15

240

235

350

845

Jul to Sep 2019

965

20

165

225

385

795

Oct to Dec 2019

1,000

20

185

225

375

805

Jan to Mar 2020

1,105

15

195

225

385

820

Apr to Jun 2020

465

10

85

90

140

325

Jul to Sep 2020

1,030

20

125

120

210

470

Oct to Dec 2020

1,040

10

205

220

365

805

Jan to Mar 2021

980

5

175

240

445

865

Apr to Jun 2021

1,045

5

145

400

880

1,430

Jul to Sep 2021

1,120

10

155

315

365

850

Oct to Dec 2021

1,350

15

195

265

350

830

Jan to Mar 2022

735

20

255

330

455

1,060

Apr to Jun 2022

965

25

260

280

420

985

Jul to Sep 2022

895

35

250

360

490

1,135

Oct to Dec 2022

865

35

240

380

505

1,160

Jan to Mar 2023

1,110

10

100

295

345

745

Apr to Jun 2023

1,325

0

0

200

215

415

Jul to Sep 2023

1,085

20

220

200

180

620

Oct to Dec 2023

1,155

25

200

290

290

805

Jan to Mar 2024

1,030

10

225

310

220

770

Source: Child Maintenance Service Management Information

Figures are rounded to the nearest 5.

Note number

Note Text

note 1

Parents can appeal a decision by the Child Maintenance Service on payment amounts with the Tribunal Service which is impartial and independent of Government. Before they do this, they must ask the Child Maintenance Service to review and reconsider their decision (known as a Mandatory Reconsideration).

note 2

Where the parent decides that they no longer want to appeal the decision and withdraw the appeal.

note 3

Where the Child Maintenance Service finds the original decision to be incorrect, or the parent has supplied more information which changes the decision.

note 4

Where His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service overturns the decision made by the Child Maintenance Service and supports the parent's appeal. This includes appeals where the appellant provides additional evidence to the court.

note 5

Where the courts dismiss the appeal made by the parent and support the decision made by the Child Maintenance Service.

note 6

The sum of the Child Maintenance Service appeals withdrawn and revised in addition to the Tribunal Service appeals dismissed and upheld.


Answered by:
Andrew Western (Labour)
17 September 2024

Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.