The Work and Pensions Committee is continuing its work on children in poverty with an inquiry into the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) and the financial support arrangements for children and young people in separated families across the UK.
The inquiry will explore how the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) might improve the Child Maintenance Service to better support children in poverty and examine the barriers parents face when trying to access its support as well as how the system interacts with wider social security, including Universal Credit.
Reforms in 2012 were aimed at encouraging families where one of the parents does not live with the child to create their own arrangements for the payment of support and reduce the use of the UK Government service.
