Every parliamentary written question tabled by Jack Rankin this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 1–6 of 6 · Department for Work and Pensions
How much their Department has spent on X and xAI since July 2024.
Paid advertising on X was suspended in April 2023 following a SAFE Framework assessment. X is currently used only for organic (non-paid) content to communicate policies and public services. No expenditure has been made by the DWP with X since July 2024.
Whether her Department plans to (a) end direct pay arrangements and (b) use the collect and pay model for all future child maintenance agreements; and what estimate her Department has made of the number of existing agreements that would be affected by this change.
A consultation on proposed reforms to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) was published by the previous Government on 8 May 2024. This included removing Direct Pay and managing all CMS cases in one service to allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster, and exploring how victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be better supported. This follows the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act receiving royal assent in July 2023.The consultation was extended by this Government at the end of July and ran until 30 September 2024. We are currently analysing the responses we have received, and the Government will publish a response in due course. At the end of September 2024, the CMS was managing 749,000 arrangements of which approximately 60% of arrangements used Direct Pay and 40% Collect and Pay.
How many child maintenance administrative liability orders were rejected by courts in each year between 2021 and 2024; and for what reasons courts rejected these applications.
Where parents fail to take responsibility for paying for their children, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will not hesitate to use the range of enforcement powers available, and a liability order facilitates this.A liability order allows the CMS to formally have the debt a paying parent owes legally recognised in a court of law. It can choose which enforcement method to proceed with depending on the circumstances of the case, and the welfare of any qualifying children involved.Following the Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 receiving royal assent in July 2023, secondary legislation is required to bring into force existing powers that allow the CMS to make an administrative liability order (ALO) against a person who has failed to pay child maintenance and is in arrears.The ALO will replace the current requirement for the CMS to apply to the court for a liability order enabling CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities and will get money to children more quickly.Liability orders have not yet been replaced by ALOs, so we are only able to provide data for liability orders. Published data can be found on the national tables page 6.1. Please find a summary of the data below.Data on the reasons a court rejected a liability order is not held centrally and to compile it would not be an effective use of operational resources.The CMS applied for approximately;17,800 liability orders between October 2023 and September 2024,15,100 liability orders between October 2022 and September 2023, and11,300 liability orders between October 2021 and September 2022.Approximate number of liability orders withdrawn or dismissed (rejected);1,200 liability orders between October 2023 and September 2024,900 liability orders between October 2022 and September 2023, and900 liability orders between October 2021 and September 2022.(Please note that the figures exclude Scotland).It is worth noting that an important reason for liability orders being withdrawn is that they are settled prior to going to court.
How many staff work for the Child Maintenance Service by each civil service pay bracket.
The number of staff who work for the Child Maintenance Service by each civil service pay bracket has been provided in the tables 1 and 2 below. Table 1: The Child Maintenance Service, Great Britain (CMS GB) have a total of 3,831 staff in post. GradeChild Maintenance Service GBAA44AO2,232EO1,210HEO220SEO77UG734UG610SCS13SCS21Total3,831Data to December 2024 Table 2: The Department for Communities, Northern Ireland (DFC NI) administers casework for Paying Parents living in Northern Ireland under Northern Ireland legislation for the 2012 scheme and have their own funding process, pay structure and grading system. DFC NI also provide services to CMS GB under a Memorandum of Understanding. There are a total of 987 staff in post providing these services who are either civil servants employed by the DFC NI or agency staff employed by The Recruitment Co. GradeDepartment for Communities NI, GB services.VRAO343VAO309VWP AO4AO Administrative Officer87VREO25VEO285VWP EO25EO2 Executive Officer 275VEO110VREO13EO1 Executive Officer 133V Staff Officer4Staff Officer11DP Deputy Principal7G74G61G51Total987Data to December 2024
How much the supervision and processing of (a) Direct Pay arrangements and (b) Collect and Pay arrangements cost the Child Maintenance Service.
The cost of running the Child Maintenance Service is not separated between supervision and processing of (a) Direct Pay arrangements and (b) Collect and Pay arrangements, therefore, the information requested is not held.
What the annual budget of the Child Maintenance Service was in each year since 2021; and what the forecast budget is for 2025.
The table below outlines the Child Maintenance Service budget for each year since 2021, sourced from the CMS Management Accounts. The budget for 2025/2026 has not yet been finalised and therefore is not included. Year21/2222/2323/2424/25 Budget£117.0m £108.7m£116.3m£106.5m Note: the budget information does not represent actual spend.