Written questions by Buckley.

What consideration has been given to allowing appointees to use the Access to Work online portal.

The Access to Work online portal has been designed to ensure that customers can manage their own claims securely and efficiently, following identity verification to protect personal information and prevent fraud. At present, the service does not include functionality for appointees to submit claims on behalf of customers. This is because the portal relies on individual identity verification to maintain the security and integrity of the process. However, we continue to provide a paper-based route for appointees to ensure that support remains available for those who need it.

What steps she is taking to help reduce the delays in decisions on Disability Living Allowance claims.

We have seen unprecedented demand in new claims to the DLA Child service line. Additional resources have been deployed, and cases are cleared in date order to ensure fair customer service. As a result, we are seeing improvements in our processing times for new claims. As of the 30th December 2024, The Actual Average Clearance Time was 97.8 days and has since reduced to 57.3 days as of 25th of August 2025, a reduction of 40.5 days.

What recent assessment she has made of the processing times of (a) applications for and (b) mandatory reconsiderations of Disability Living Allowance.

From April 2025 to August 2025, the actual average clearance times (AACT) for new Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claims is 77 days. Over the same period, the AACT for DLA Mandatory Reconsiderations (MR) is 125 days. These figures are averages, and are for child DLA claims only, as new claims for DLA are only open to children under the age of 16.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the eligibility criteria for housing support on incentives to seek employment for people in (a) temporary and (b) supported accommodation.

The Department acknowledges the challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those working and living in supported housing as the two systems were never intended to run alongside one another. The income taper in ...

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of tapering the reduction of housing support when people living in (a) temporary and (b) supported accommodation move off income-related benefits a

The income taper in Housing Benefit ensures people in work are better off than someone wholly reliant on benefits. In addition to any financial advantage, there are important non-financial benefits of working. These benefits include learning new skills, i...

What date people must submit a pension credit claim by to qualify for the 2024 winter fuel allowance.

A claim for Pension Credit can be backdated by up to three months, as long as the conditions of entitlement are met during that period. This means that any claim made by 21 December and successfully backdated can qualify for this year’s Winter Fuel Payment.

What steps she is taking to help tackle unpaid child maintenance.

The Department plans to bring forward changes to allow the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to make an administrative liability order against a person who has failed to pay child maintenance and is in arrears. The administrative liability order will replace the current requirement for the CMS to apply to the court for a liability order, which is an outdated process and can take up to 22 weeks. We expect the new liability order process to take around six to eight weeks, meaning the CMS can use its strong enforcement powers more quickly to go after those who wilfully avoid their financial obligations to their children.We will bring forward the legislation as soon as possible.

How many liability orders have been pursued by the Child Maintenance Service since 1 August 2023.

A principle of child maintenance is to increase levels of cooperation between separated parents and encourage parents to meet their responsibilities to provide their children with financial support. Where a family-based child maintenance arrangement is not suitable the Child Maintenance Service offers a statutory scheme for those parents who need it. The Government is dedicated to ensuring parents meet their obligations to children and the Child Maintenance Service will do everything within its powers to make sure parents comply. Where parents fail to pay their child maintenance, the Service will not hesitate to use its enforcement which includes liability orders. The Service is committed to using these powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families. The Department plans to bring forward changes to allow Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to make an administrative liability order against a person who has failed to pay child maintenance and is in arrears. The administrative liability order will replace the current requirement for the CMS to apply to the court for a liability order, which can take up to 22 weeks. We expect the new liability order process to take around six to eight weeks, meaning CMS can use its strong enforcement powers more quickly for those who seek to avoid their financial obligations to their children. We will bring forward the legislation as soon as possible. The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service and the latest statistics are available up to March 2024. The next release to June 2024 is scheduled for Tuesday 24th September 2024 at 09:30am. The statistics for liability orders are shown in Table 7.1 of the National tables. The relevant data taken from that table, covering the period requested, is shown in the following table: Liability Orders in process and money collected in Great Britain, and Liability Orders applied for and granted in England and Wales, July 2023 to March 2024 Jul to Sep 23Oct to Dec 23Jan to Mar 24Liability Orders in process at end of quarter7,5006,4006,200Liability Orders applied for during quarter (excludes Scotland)4,1004,5005,300Liability Orders granted during quarter (excludes Scotland)3,6003,9004,400Liability Orders withdrawn or dismissed during quarter (excludes Scotland)300300400Money collected during quarter from Paying Parents with a Liability Order in process (£ millions)2.42.12.1Source: Child Maintenance Service Administrative and Clerical Data Notes: This table includes actions taken to collect both maintenance arranged by the Child Maintenance Service, and Child Support Agency arrears that have been transitioned to Child Maintenance Service systems. This may include actions taken against parents for whom no ongoing maintenance has been arranged under the Child Maintenance Service. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100 or £100,000. "In Process" counts give the number of Paying Parents for which the relevant enforcement action was ongoing at the end of the quarter. "Ongoing" includes the period in which the action was being formally considered, in addition to the period during which the action was actively being progressed. A Paying Parent can be taken to court over unpaid child maintenance. Courts can grant a Liability Order, which is a legal recognition that a debt is owed. This enables recovery of the debt through further Civil Enforcement Actions, e.g. referral to an enforcement agency. Some Liability Order figures are restricted to England and Wales and exclude Scotland, this is indicated in the row title where relevant.

What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service in collecting arrears payments.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) always encourages paying parents to pay their maintenance on time, to avoid accrual of arrears. Where a paying parent fails to pay on time or in full, the CMS aims to take immediate action to recover the debt and re-establish compliance. The CMS will initially negotiate a payment that is feasible for the parent to pay. If this is unsuccessful and the paying parent is employed, the CMS will use a Deductions from Earnings Order (DEO) to take payment directly from their wages. The CMS has a range of strong enforcement powers that can be used against those who consistently refuse to meet their obligations to provide financial support to their children. These powers include the ability to deduct directly from the paying parent’s bank accounts, forcing the sale of property and disqualifications from holding or obtaining driving licenses and passports. We are committed to making the most effective use of these strong enforcement powers and have made a number of improvements to our enforcement process to make it quicker and more efficient.

What the total value of child maintenance arrears was on 30 August 2024.

The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service and the latest statistics are available up to March 2024. The next release covering the statistics to June 2024 is scheduled for Tuesday 24th September 2024 at 09:30am. The total value of child maintenance that has not been paid and now needs to be collected through ‘Collect and Pay’ at the end of March 2024 was £634.9 million, as shown in Table 6 of the National tables. The following information is a summary from the latest publication for data up to March 2024. In the 12 months up to March 2024 the child maintenance service arranged £1.4 billion child maintenance, an increase from £1.2 billion during the previous 12 months.61% of all CMS arrangements use Direct Pay, with 37% using Collect and Pay and just over one billion pounds was arranged through the Direct Pay service in the last 12 months (we do not measure the compliance of Paying Parents on the Direct Pay service).Since March 2023, the percentage of parents paying something towards their maintenance through collect & pay has increased from 65% to 69%.In the period April 2023 to March 2024 £316.8 million was arranged through the Collect & Pay service:o £224.9 million was paido £91.9 million was unpaid

What steps her Department is taking to ensure gender equality in the work of the Child Maintenance Service.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) aims to provide a high-quality service to all its customers. The CMS treats parents equally as individuals based on their roles within the scheme and makes no reference to gender. The Department has a specific duty to assess the impact of proposed policies and services and any changes to them on equality to ensure the Department meets its Public Sector Equality Duty obligations.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce call waiting times to the Child Maintenance Service; and if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of call handling times by that service.

CMS are committed to delivering the best possible service to all customers within our growing caseload, though fully recognise that call waiting times are sometimes longer than we would like. To address this, we are working to improve the efficiency of our customer interactions through both the telephone and Digital channels, and by promoting self-service online. These are freeing up CMS resource to support customers that need to contact us by telephone. The class leading CMS online service supports customers in understanding options around child maintenance arrangements through to completing applications and the ability to manage their case online. These services are available 24/7, and in July 2024 over 1 million customers were logging on to their online My Child Maintenance Case account and using them. To improve the efficiency of the service, improvements have been made to process simple actions automatically, whilst also improving training and guidance for CMS colleagues. As a result, call volumes are reducing, and improved customer service being delivered through the combination of Online and Telephone channels. CMS is working to improve all forms of communication with customers, including greater use of SMS and email as well as improving letter content. The Department continually seeks to review, evaluate, and enhance tools and training material to support staff in delivering a quality customer service and takes timely action to further train and support staff where further improvements can be made. Additionally, CMS have extended their telephony service to 6pm on weekdays to meet demand.