PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(28 April 2025)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of removing the collection charge for receiving parents using the Child Maintenance Service’s Collect and Pay service.

Asked by:
Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat)

A consultation on proposed reforms to the CMS was published by the previous Government on 8 May 2024. This included:

• removing Direct Pay and managing all CMS cases in one service to allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster,
• exploring views on collection fees and the impact of proposals to maintain but reduce fees, and
• exploring how victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be better supported. This follows the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act receiving royal assent in July 2023.

The consultation was extended by this Government at the end of July and ran until 30 September 2024. We are currently analysing the responses we have received, and the Government plan to publish the response in the summer.

Answered by:
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