The Department for Work and Pensions has pushed back a deadline linked to proposed child maintenance reforms. A consultation that kicked off before the latest General Election has now been extended by the Labour administration as more views are sought in a bid to get more children above the poverty line.
The DWP launched the consultation on May 8 2024 to open up debate over how the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) can better shield kids from the poverty line.
Officials say part of the plan is to tackle non-compliance faster and take enforcement action more quickly. But any such moves will now be delayed while more views are sought.
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.”
She added: “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.”
While the Conservative government had considered scrapping the Direct Pay service – where cash goes straight from one parent to the other – favouring instead a full-blown shift to the Collect and Pay system, the new government could reform CMS so it clamps down faster on skivers and speed up enforcement when parents don’t cough up, reports Nottinghamshire Live.
The DWP is also considering ways to bolster family-based arrangements with an enhanced calculation tool, and providing guidance for conflict resolution support. They are also investigating how the CMS can better aid victims of domestic or economic abuse, building on recommendations from Dr Samantha Callan’s 2023 Independent Review of the Child Maintenance Service.
The consultation period has now been extended and will conclude on September 30, 2024. This decision to allow more time for public feedback aligns – officials say – with the government’s launch of the Child Poverty Taskforce. That has been spearheaded by the Work and Pensions and Education Secretaries, as part of a strategy to reduce child poverty and give children the best start in life.
In the year leading up to March 2024, the DWP reports that 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. It states that child maintenance from CMS and family-based arrangements help to keep 160,000 children out of poverty each year.
Parents seeking more information on how to arrange maintenance payments can find it on the Get Help Arranging Child Maintenance tool.
