Question follow-through · 121969

Children: Maintenance

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases in the last three years involved child maintenance payments being incorrectly refunded to the paying parent due to clerical error; and what steps the Department is taking to reduce such e

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
18 Mar 2026
Target answer date
23 Mar 2026
Answer
26 Mar 2026 · 8 calendar days after tabling

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

Recorded timeline

  1. 18 Mar 2026

    Question tabled

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases in the last three years involved child maintenance payments being incorrectly refunded to the paying parent due to clerical error; and what steps the Department is taking to reduce such e

  2. 23 Mar 2026

    Target answer date

    Date supplied by the official written-questions record.

  3. 26 Mar 2026

    Answer published

    This information is not readily available and providing it would incur disproportionate cost.The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) works to ensure cases are kept up to date and payments are processed accurately, with controls in place to minimise incorrect ...

Open official record

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.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Glyphosate

8 Jun 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of glyphosate-based herbicides on wild pollinators and biodiversity in public spaces; and what criteria will inform the Government's decision on the renewal of

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Universal Credit: Housing

6 Jul 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of protections for private landlords where Universal Credit housing costs have been paid to tenants but the rent has not subsequently been paid to the landlor

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Universal Credit: Housing

6 Jul 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has plans to introduce a mechanism enabling landlords to recover unpaid rent where Universal Credit housing costs have been paid to claimants but not passed on to the landlord.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Universal Credit: Complaints

6 Jul 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time was for complaints submitted to the Independent Case Examiner on Universal Credit in the latest period for which data is available.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Food Banks

28 Aug 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to set a target for reducing the number of households using food banks.

Unreviewed candidateSame MP and department; topic relationship is unreviewed

Youth Guarantee

14 Sept 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many 16 and 17 year olds have received support through the Youth Guarantee Gateway since its introduction.