Question follow-through · 6470

Children: Maintenance

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to improve the success of enforcement measures taken by the Child Maintenance Service on non-paying parents.

answeredDepartment for Work and Pensions

About this written question

A written question asks a government minister for information in writing. Parliament publishes the question and any answer.

Answering body
Department for Work and Pensions
Tabled
4 Oct 2024
Target answer date
9 Oct 2024
Answer
9 Oct 2024 · 5 calendar days after tabling

Elapsed calendar days describe the record timeline, not whether Parliament considers an answer on time.

Recorded timeline

  1. 4 Oct 2024

    Question tabled

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to improve the success of enforcement measures taken by the Child Maintenance Service on non-paying parents.

  2. 9 Oct 2024

    Target answer date

    Date supplied by the official written-questions record.

  3. 9 Oct 2024

    Answer published

    Where parents frequently change employment, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) can use alternative powers such as deducting child maintenance directly from their bank account. The CMS has a range of strong enforcement options that are designed to get mon...

Open official record

Official data retrieved 27 Sept 2026.

Later records

Possible follow-up questions

Strong links require the same MP, department and exact heading. Other same-department questions are shown as unreviewed candidates, not as confirmed follow-ups. No debate link is asserted unless a stable source relationship exists.

Strong linkSame MP, department and exact heading

Children: Maintenance

7 Oct 2024 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the Child Maintenance Service to calculate a paying parent's liability using their household income rather than their individual incom

Strong linkSame MP, department and exact heading

Children: Maintenance

7 Oct 2024 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Child Maintenance Service has made of the potential merits of reducing the threshold for unearned income for paying parents from £2,500 to £1,000 in line with HMRC’s annual tax-free

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Childcare: Costs

7 Oct 2024 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Child Maintenance Service has made of the potential merits of ensuring that both parents are equally liable for childcare costs.

Strong linkSame MP, department and exact heading

Children: Maintenance

15 Oct 2024 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking through the Child Maintenance Service to ensure that receiving parents and their children are adequately financially supported when paying parents (a) decide not to return to wo

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Pension Credit: Capital Rules

5 Feb 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the disregarded capital limit on pension credit was in each of the last 15 years; and if she will increase the disregarded capital limit in line with inflation since the last increase.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Unum

21 Mar 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether (a) she and (b) Ministers from her Department have met with insurance company Unum since 4 July 2024.

Strong linkSame MP, department and exact heading

Children: Maintenance

2 Jun 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help ensure that the Child Maintenance Service meets its two-year arrears recovery target in cases where a paying parent has a significantly increased income; and what safegu

Strong linkSame MP, department and exact heading

Children: Maintenance

2 Jun 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of child maintenance cases meet the two-year arrears recovery target.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Universal Credit

2 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that information received from HMRC regarding earnings is accurate and that any errors are identified and corrected swiftly, so that Universal Credit claima

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Unemployment: Young People

9 Feb 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the youth unemployment rate was in the most recent period for which data is available in (a) Scotland, (b) England and (c) Wales.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Poverty: Children and Pensioners

9 Feb 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of trends in (a) pensioner poverty and (b) child poverty across the UK.