Committees

Child Maintenance

Inquiry

As of March 2024, there were estimated to be 3.8 million children living in separated families. A child maintenance arrangement is required for all children under the age of 16 living in separated families. However, only around 59% of families have any form of child maintenance agreement. Where parents cannot create their own private child maintenance agreement, they can access the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). The CMS is the Government run service which can calculate, facilitate, and if necessary collect, child maintenance payments between parents’.

This inquiry seeks to examine the barriers to making child maintenance arrangements through the CMS and why many separated families do not have any form of arrangement. Secondly, we want to explore how arrangements made through the Child Maintenance Service can be more effectively enforced.

This inquiry is currently accepting evidence

The committee wants to hear your views. We welcome submissions from anyone with answers to the questions in the call for evidence. You can submit evidence until Wednesday 23 April 2025.

Read the call for evidence before submitting

Upcoming events

View all events
Wednesday 2 April 2025
11:00am Private
11:05am Public
Child Maintenance - Oral evidence 2 April 2025
To be confirmed
Wednesday 26 March 2025
11:00am Private
11:05am Public
Child Maintenance - Oral evidence 26 March 2025
11:05am
  • Dave Hawkey (Senior Research Fellow at Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR))
  • Sam Morfey (CEO at Both Parents Matter)
  • Sarah Lambert (Head of Policy and Campaigns at Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families)
Room 1, Palace of Westminster

Past events

Wednesday 19 March 2025
11:00am Private
11:05am Public
Child Maintenance - Oral evidence 19 March 2025
11:05am
  • Simon Hunter (Director at Department for Work & Pensions)
  • Duncan Gilchrist (Deputy Director at Department for Work & Pensions)
  • Elaine Squires (Deputy Director at Department for Work & Pensions)
  • Chris Smith (Delivery Assurance at Department for Work & Pensions)
Room 4A, Palace of Westminster

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