Source · Select Committees · Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 20
20
Accepted
Paragraph: 87
CMS guidance on 50/50 shared care and child benefit use is inadequate.
Conclusion
The CMS should ensure its guidance is clear on situations of 50/50 day-to-day care and that, where court orders are made under the expectation of care being equally split, no maintenance is deemed to be due. The use of child benefit to determine that maintenance is indeed due appears to us to be a blunt tool and recommend that the CMS should not use child benefit as an effective proxy to determine whether child maintenance is due.
Government Response Summary
The government committed to reviewing CMS caseworker guidance on 50/50 day-to-day care to ensure accurate decisions using all available evidence, including court orders. However, it disagreed that child benefit is a blunt tool for determining the receiving parent, defending its use as a good indicator due to its alignment with the CMS's day-to-day care policy.
Paragraph Reference:
87
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government is committed to ensuring transparency in how decisions are made, and the Child Maintenance Decision Makers Guide is published on GOV.UK and readily accessible. The DWP will review the CMS caseworker guidance on 50/50 day-to-day care to ensure that timely, accurate decisions can be made which take into account the relevant evidence available in a case, which may include a court order (provided there is no evidence to suggest the court order is not adhered to). Child benefit is not used as a blunt tool in determining who may be considered a receiving parent and the CMS can consider multiple different forms of evidence when determining who is the primary carer. However, entitlement to child benefit is based on an overall care test which is broadly similar to the CMS`s policy on day-to-day care. Payment of child benefit is therefore a very good indicator of who should be treated as the receiving parent. The decision on who is the primary carer can be looked at again, should the parent disputing the decision have sufficient evidence that they have day-to-day care of the child. Children in poverty: Child Maintenance Service: Government Response 13