NAO Child Maintenance Report (March 2022)

This was the most important NAO report on CMS in the last decade.

Main findings:

1. Government reduced costs — but not outcomes

The Department for Work and Pensions reduced taxpayer cost by 40% (£242 million) since 2011–12 and reduced net costs further by charging parents fees. CMS cost taxpayers £322 million in 2020–21.

Child Maintenance

But:

there was “no clear change” in the number of effective child maintenance arrangements.

2. Fewer families used CMS than expected

Government expected statutory use to fall from 46% to 33%.

Child Maintenance

Actual use fell to only 18% by 2019–20.

This meant many parents were not receiving support.

3. Families with NO maintenance arrangement increased sharply

This was one of the most serious findings.

Families with no arrangement rose from:

25% → 44%

between 2011–12 and 2019–20.

Child Maintenance

4. Arrears could hit £1 billion

NAO warned:

unless stronger action happened,

Collect & Pay arrears could reach £1 billion by 2031.

This became a major Parliament issue.

Child Maintenance

5. Enforcement was still too slow

It could take years before unpaid maintenance was recovered.

Average debt before civil enforcement:

£2,200

After enforcement:

£2,600

This showed delays were worsening arrears.

Child Maintenance

6. Fraud and hidden income concerns

NAO said DWP had not properly estimated:

• undeclared income
• self-employed under-reporting
• fraud and error

This later became a major Work and Pensions Committee concern.

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmworpen/272/summary.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com

NAO recommendations

NAO said DWP should:

• understand why people avoid CMS
• improve Direct Pay and Collect & Pay
• review arrears write-off strategy
• align welfare + child maintenance rules better
• improve enforcement speed
• potentially return to Parliament for legislative change

Child Maintenance

What changed after NAO pressure

These later reforms followed strong NAO pressure:

2024

Removal of £20 CMS application fee

2024

Administrative liability orders for faster enforcement

2025

Government plan to remove Direct Pay

stronger domestic abuse protections

ongoing reform of arrears collection

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/new-regulations-remove-the-application-fee-for-the-child-maintenance-service/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Simple summary

The NAO basically said:

CMS became cheaper for government

…but not better enough for children.

Too many parents still:

• receive nothing
• wait too long
• face huge arrears
• struggle with abuse-linked cases
• cannot get enforcement quickly

That 2022 report drove much of the major CMS reform debate from 2022–2026.