The Department for Work and Pensions has introduced the first phase of the Child Maintenance 2012 scheme. It is designed to introduce charging and encourage voluntary family based arrangements for the payment of maintenance. Implementation is expected to cost £950 million. It is implementing the 2012 Scheme in two phases the first of which is to build an IT system. There are signals that the scheme’s overall objectives might be at risk if the number of people intending to use family-based arrangements does not improve over current levels.
The DWP is now operating three schemes and estimates that 800,000 of legacy cases will need to be closed between July 2014 and May 2018. The Department has adopted a pathfinder approach and limited qualifying applications to 4 or more children initially. In November 2013, the scheme was open to all new applications. This inquiry examines the early progress of the 2012 scheme by assessing Phase 1 implementation, with a focus on programme management, operational performance and the management of risks in Phase 2.
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