Recommendation 25

It is particularly difficult to understand how fees, intended to incentivise the use of Direct Pay, can be justified in cases where the Department appears to have accepted such arrangements are not appropriate, such as in cases of domestic abuse. The Department should introduce a mechanism to waive Collect and Pay fees for customers who have been subject to domestic abuse, or whose children have suffered abuse, be they paying or receiving parents. The evidence base for this should be the same as the evidence base that the Government sets out for cases to skip Direct Pay and move straight to Collect and Pay.