Written Question·Department for Work and Pensions·UIN 109860

Children: Maintenance

Tabled: 30 January 2026

Answered: 9 February 2026

Question

Ian Sollom

Liberal Democrat — St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on (a) improving access to and (b) streamlining the enforcement processes of the Child Maintenance Service.

Answer

Andrew Western

The Government intends to remove the Direct Pay service and thereby speed up detection of non-compliance. Moving to a single, strengthened Collect and Pay system will allow the CMS to monitor all payments, identify missed or partial payments immediately, ...

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