The Department has no long-term strategy for tackling the growing unpaid maintenance balance under the current CMS scheme. Unpaid maintenance owed to parents on Collect & Pay has increased by more than £1 million per week to a total of £440 million as at October 2021.66 We therefore asked the Department how it planned to address the increasing arrears balance within the scheme. The Department told us that “a lot of it is already in payment” and it is “not giving up on getting all of it”.67 Ho...

The Department has no long-term strategy for tackling the growing unpaid maintenance balance under the current CMS scheme. Unpaid maintenance owed to parents on Collect & Pay has increased by more than £1 million per week to a total of £440 million as at October 2021.66 We therefore asked the Department how it planned to address the increasing arrears balance within the scheme. The Department told us that “a lot of it is already in payment” and it is “not giving up on getting all of it”.67 However, the NAO reported that no payment was made against around four-fifths (79%) of this debt in September 2021. It concluded that, unless the Departmen Type: conclusion | Number: 31 | Response status: not_addressed Government response: 6. PAC conclusion: The Department is too slow to take effective enforcement action, leaving children without maintenance for too long and allowing child maintenance arrears to grow. 6. PAC recommendation: The Department should, within one year: • conduct operatio