Question follow-through · 98423
Department for Work and Pensions: Correspondence
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what performance metrics his Department uses to evaluate the timeliness and quality of support provided to Members of Parliament when handling child maintenance queries.
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
- 9 Dec 2025
- Target answer date
- 15 Dec 2025
- Answer
- 18 Dec 2025 · 9 calendar days after tabling
Elapsed calendar days describe the record timeline, not whether Parliament considers an answer on time.
Recorded timeline
9 Dec 2025
Question tabled
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what performance metrics his Department uses to evaluate the timeliness and quality of support provided to Members of Parliament when handling child maintenance queries.
15 Dec 2025
Target answer date
Date supplied by the official written-questions record.
18 Dec 2025
Answer published
The Department’s internal performance metric is to aim to provide a response to MP and Customer enquiries or complaints within 15 working days or to advise them when to expect a response, if the matter is complex and will take longer. To embed quality and...
Official data retrieved 28 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.
Children: Maintenance
15 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many paying parents have a nil assessment for child maintenance, including by each reason for a nil assessment.
Debt Collection
15 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of enforcement, including the recovery rate following (a) liability orders, (b) bailiff action and (c) deduction orders.
Children: Maintenance
15 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Child Maintenance Service enforcement actions in the most recent year for which data is available resulted in (a) full recovery of arrears, (b) partial recovery of arrears and (c) no recovery o
Children: Maintenance
15 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Child Maintenance Service cases involve missed payments for more than three months before enforcement action begins; and what factors account for delays.
Children: Maintenance
15 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the backlog of Child Maintenance Service enforcement cases and increase compliance.
Children: Maintenance
18 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of Child Maintenance Service safeguarding procedures for parents who have experienced domestic abuse; and whether changes have been made to those procedures r
Children: Maintenance
18 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Child Maintenance Service cases in each of the last five years have had a safeguarding flag applied due to domestic abuse concerns; and how many of those cases involved Collect and Pay arrangem
Children: Maintenance
18 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children are included in Child Maintenance Service cases in which the paying parent has been subject to three or more separate enforcement actions for non payment.
Children: Maintenance
18 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Child Maintenance Service delays and errors on child poverty levels and low-income households.
Children: Maintenance
18 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the annual collection rate is for child maintenance under (a) Collect and Pay and (b) Direct Pay.
Child Maintenance Service: Staff
2 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff the Child Maintenance Service employs; and what the average caseload is per caseworker in the (a) enforcement, (b) calculation and (c) complaints teams.
Children: Maintenance
2 Jan 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Deduction from Earnings Orders and Deduction Orders from bank accounts are active.