To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) shortest, (b) median and (c) longest waiting times for a child maintenance service liability order were in each of the last five years.
Answered on
9 February 2024
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) continues to take rigorous action to collect maintenance, combining robust negotiation activity with the highly effective use of its extensive range of Enforcement Powers. This approach is driven by the Payment Compliance strategy, increasing CMS compliance influencing activities to tackle non-paying cases and challenge non-compliant behaviours.
We move cases swiftly to Legal Enforcement, securing a Liability Order for 11k cases in the courts, in 2023.
CMS does not measure a) shortest, (b) median waiting times to secure a Liability Order but does measure an average of (c) longest. The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
CMS applies a Continuous Improvement focus to the Enforcement strategy and processes. The planned introduction of the Administrative Liability Order in 2024 will remove the need to apply to the courts and will reduce the average time of 22 weeks to secure a Liability Order to 6 weeks.
The published statistics below provides data, excluding waiting times, to September 2023: Section 9 Enforcement and National tables 7.1.
Child Maintenance Service statistics: data to September 2023 - GOV.UK(www.gov.uk)