PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(4 December 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the potential for the Child Maintenance System to be used as a tool of economic abuse.

Asked by:
Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat)

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) takes the issue of domestic and economic abuse extremely seriously and is committed to ensuring that victims of abuse get the help and support they need.

CMS Staff receive training to ensure they are able to respond appropriately to parents experiencing domestic abuse. The current Domestic Abuse training package was updated with input from external stakeholders. It includes an understanding of different types of abuse, including economic, and covers post separation abuse. It has been reviewed to ensure it reflects the Home Office’s updated statutory guidance on coercive and controlling behaviour, published in April 2023, to ensure CMS staff are equipped to recognise this form of domestic abuse and signpost parents appropriately.

The recent consultation on proposed reforms to CMS included managing all CMS cases in one service to allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster and explore how victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be better supported. This proposal would also reduce the ability for perpetrators of domestic abuse to inflict economic control and coercion through withholding child maintenance payments.  The consultation closed on 30 September 2024, and the Government will publish a response in due course.

Where a parent fails to pay on time or in full, the CMS will consider enforcement action as quickly as possible to get money flowing and collect any unpaid amounts that have accrued.

The CMS has a range of strong enforcement powers to ensure children get the financial support they deserve.  These powers include the ability to deduct directly from the paying parent’s earnings or bank accounts and disqualifications from holding or obtaining driving licenses and passports.

Answered by:
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1 January 1970