Child Maintenance Consultation Extended

31st July 2024

Child maintenance consultation extended to allow more time for engagement from external organisations.

The Government has today extended a consultation on the Child Maintenance Service to ensure there is suitable time for feedback from external organisations.

The consultation, launched 8 May 2024, is a chance to discuss ways the CMS can help to increase the number of children being kept out of poverty.

DWP Lords Minister, Baroness Maeve Sherlock said, "This government is committed to tackling child poverty and ensuring children get the support they need to have the best start in life. Child maintenance is important to this goal.

The extension of the consultation into the Child Maintenance Service that we've announced today will ensure that we provide the best possible opportunity to hear the concerns and thoughts of expert groups and individuals.

DWP’s proposals, launched under the previous government, include: 

Stopping the Direct Pay service and deal with all cases via Collect and Pay with CMS collecting and transferring all payments. This would allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster and, when necessary, take enforcement action more quickly.  

Exploring the best way to support family-based arrangements with an enhanced calculation tool, along with signposting to conflict resolution support. 

Asking how the CMS can better support victims of domestic or economic abuse, building on recommendations from Dr Samantha Callan’s 2023 Independent Review of the Child Maintenance Service. 

The extension will now close on 30 September 2024.

It comes as the government launched the Child Poverty Taskforce, chaired by the Work and Pensions and Education Secretaries, part of the ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty and give children the best start in life.

Additional Information:  
In the 12 months to March 2024, the CMS arranged over £1.4 billion in child maintenance payments and was managing 722,000 arrangements for 658,000 paying parents and 986,000 children. 

The consultation will run until 30 September 2024.

Child maintenance payments from both CMS and family-based arrangements help to keep 160,000 children out of poverty each year.  

100,000 through non-statutory arrangements and 60,000 through the Child Maintenance Service. 

More information for parents on how to make arrangements for maintenance payments can be found on the Get Help Arranging Child Maintenance tool:  https://child-maintenance.service.gov.uk/get-help-arranging-child-maintenance  

Where family-based arrangements are not appropriate, the CMS provides parents with two options for organising payments: 

Direct Pay: Once the CMS has calculated maintenance payments, both parents agree how the money will be paid and when. 

Collect and Pay: CMS collects the money from the paying parent and sends it directly to the receiving parent.