Children: Maintenance
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the risk that the Collect and Pay service charge system can be used to place additional financial pressure on the paying parent.
Answered by Andrew Western
All parents are given the option to use the Direct Pay service, where no fees apply.
If a paying parent pays on time and in full on Direct Pay and there is no reason to believe they would be unlikely to pay; they cannot be forced to use the Collect and Pay service.
The 20% collection fee for paying parents is a deterrent against non-compliance and offsets the cost of action needed to recover arrears.
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