The proportion of families with private arrangements has increased since the 2012 reforms but this has also been accompanied by an increase in the number of families without an arrangement. There is evidence that a significant number of Children in poverty: Child Maintenance Service 47 parents who do not have an arrangement want one. This means some children are avoidably missing out on maintenance which could help reduce child poverty. The Government should also produce an analysis of the re...

The proportion of families with private arrangements has increased since the 2012 reforms but this has also been accompanied by an increase in the number of families without an arrangement. There is evidence that a significant number of Children in poverty: Child Maintenance Service 47 parents who do not have an arrangement want one. This means some children are avoidably missing out on maintenance which could help reduce child poverty. The Government should also produce an analysis of the reasons for the increase in the proportion of families without child maintenance arrangements. Type: recommendation | Number: 13 | Paragraph: 64 | Response status: under_consideration Government response: The National Audit Office’s (NAO) analysis of the Department’s research shows that the increase in the number of separated families with no arrangement is driven by around half the number of parents using the Child Maintenance Service compared to the Child Support Agency (CSA). The CSA had a much