Every parliamentary written question tabled by Sarah Green this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 1–8 of 8 · Department for Work and Pensions
What assessment his Department has made of trends in changes in waiting times for cases initially to be assigned at the Pensions Ombudsman over the past two years.
Waiting times for cases to be initially assigned at The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) have increased over the past two years, primarily due to sustained growth in demand, alongside a backlog of complex cases. TPO has implemented an Operating Model Review to im...
What data his Department holds on average waiting times for (a) cases to be assigned and (b) decisions by the Pensions Ombudsman.
The Department does not centrally publish formal averages for case allocation or final decisions by the Pensions Ombudsman (TPO). However, TPO’s latest performance updates indicate that waiting times remain significant due to sustained demand. Recent data...
What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Operating Model Review in reducing waiting times at The Pensions Ombudsman over the past year.
The Pensions Ombudsman’s (TPO) Operating Model Review (OMR) has delivered record case closures in both 2024/25 and 2025/26. Key changes introduced through the OMR include ensuring that individuals complete the formal complaints process with their pension ...
What steps his Department is taking to ensure that child maintenance calculations adequately reflect disparities in parents' earning, regardless of custody arrangements.
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates on the principle that both parents have financial responsibility for their child, including their food and clothing, as well as contributing towards the associated costs of running the home that the child lives in. The maintenance calculation is intended to represent what a parent would pay for their child if they lived with them. We assume that in the event of a disparity in parental income, parents will each still spend the same proportion of their income on their child(ren) - but one parent will bear a greater amount of the overall spending on the children where their income is higher. The income of the receiving parent is therefore not included as they are already providing as the child’s primary care giver and therefore spending the amount they would if the parents lived together.If a parent feels that a decision taken by the Child Maintenance Service is incorrect, they can ask it to look at the decision again. This is known as a mandatory reconsideration.The CMS is aware that paying parents can face difficulties when attempting to spend meaningful time with their child following separation. Issues relating to access and contact are managed by family courts, however, reductions can be made for the extra cost of care where it is shared by the paying parent. The paying parent must have overnight care of any qualifying children for at least 52 nights a year, equivalent of 1 night per week. The amount payable is reduced by a maximum of fifty percent within bands based on the number of nights overnight care is provided over a 12-month period. The bands are used to give greater stability to maintenance payments and as a result there is greater reliability of payments, which contributes towards the welfare of the children in the case. If evidence shows that both parties are providing equal day-to-day care of a qualifying child, in addition to sharing overnight care, there is no requirement for either parent to pay child maintenance. The Government is conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose. This includes updating the underlying research and considering how to ensure the calculation reflects current and future societal trends. Options for proposed reforms are currently being considered. Any changes made to the child maintenance calculation will be subject to extensive public consultation, and if made, will require amendments to legislation so would be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny.
Whether the light-touch review process for PIP claimants with ongoing awards will be included in future reviews of PIP reassessment.
In the Pathways to Work Green Paper we announced plans to launch a review of the PIP assessment, which I shall lead. To make sure we get this right, we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details about the scope of the review as plans progress. In the meantime, we also set out in the Green Paper that we are exploring ways to improve our communication with people receiving ongoing awards in PIP who are expected to remain on disability benefits for life. We are considering improvements to the information we provide when we write to people about an ongoing award decision, what support is offered to people receiving ongoing awards between ‘light touch’ reviews and looking at the length of time between ‘light touch’ reviews.
What steps her Department is taking to prevent the child maintenance system being used as a tool of financial abuse.
The Government have recently consulted on proposed reforms to manage all CMS cases in one service allowing the CMS to automatically identify missed, late and partial payments. This will provide greater protection from financial abuse. Responses to consultation are currently under consideration.
What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service in securing maintenance from paying parents.
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 powers, including deductions from earnings orders, removal of driving licences, disqualification from holding a passport, and committal to prison. The Service is committed to using these powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families. Statistics on child maintenance arrangements and collections are part of the CMS quarterly statistics published on gov.uk in tables 4, 5 and 6 of the National Tables. The below information is 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 to 69% from 65%.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
Whether she plans to review the Child Maintenance Service's treatment of income from foreign assets held by paying parents.
Income, including income from assets as well as earned income, needs to be declared to the UK tax authorities and subject to UK tax in order to be included in the maintenance calculation. The Government is now considering next steps on the child maintenance service.