Child maintenance redesign
Sir David Henshaw reported his findings on redesigning child maintenance on 24 July 2006. The Government published its Child Maintenance White Paper on 13 December 2006 and responses to it in May 2007. This was followed by the publication of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill on 6 June 2007.
Other child-related policy areas include:
Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill
The Bill, published 6 June 2007, contains measures to reform the policy and delivery of child maintenance, establishing a non-departmental public body to replace the Child Support Agency, simplifying the way maintenance is calculated, and providing tougher enforcement powers to collect maintenance arrears. It also contains measures to improve the claims process for all people diagnosed with mesothelioma.
In summary these measures are:
- Establishing a new child maintenance delivery organisation, to be known as the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, to deliver child maintenance and replace the Child Support Agency.
- Encouraging parents to make their own child maintenance arrangements and giving them more choice to how they do so.
- Streamlining and simplifying how child maintenance is calculated enabling money to get to more children more quickly.
- Introducing tougher enforcement powers to collect arrears of child maintenance from parents who fail to pay.
- Introducing powers to reduce child maintenance debt more effectively
- Introducing a new scheme to make lump sum payments to all people suffering from mesothelioma, regardless of how they were exposed to it, within six weeks of them making a claim.
- Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill (This link will take you to the Parliament website)
Sending evidence to the Public Bill Committee
You can send written evidence to the Public Bill Committee at scrutiny@parliament.uk. Please make it clear that your email is about the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill.
Guidance on providing written evidence to a Public Bill Committee is available on the Parliament website.
Regulatory Impact Assessment
The Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) sets out the impacts of the reforms on business and other groups. It also provides an analysis of the economic evidence, looking at the costs and benefits of the measures in the Bill and considering the impact of the whole package of reforms.
- Child Maintenance and Other Payments
Bill – Regulatory
Impact Assessment (385KB)
- Child Maintenance and Other Payments
Bill - Regulatory Impact Assessment (revised) (KB)
Secondary Legislation
The Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill contains a number of provisions for Secondary Legislation. We have provided members of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Public Bill Committee and MPs with information about the Secondary Legislation. This information included the Regulatory Impact Assessment as well as the documents below.
- Secondary legislation dossier
child maintenance clauses 15-40 (175KB)
(9 October 2007) - Draft regulations arising from the Bill (9 October 2007) –
- from clause
30 (29KB)
- from clause
31 (23KB)
- from clause
34 (28KB)
- from clause
30 (29KB)
- Secondary Legislation information - mesotheloma (48KB)
(15 October 2007) - Summary of Secondary Legislation (23KB)
- Secondary Legislation information (36KB)
- Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill Delegated Powers Memorandum (285KB)
A new system of child maintenance – White Paper
Responses to Child maintenance White Paper
These responses were published in May 2007.
- Summary of responses to the White Paper (651KB)
- Crynodeb o’r ymatebion i’r ymgynghoriad (Welsh) (1.31MB)
- Reply by the Government to the Work and Pensions Select Committee report on the White Paper (223KB)
Child maintenance White Paper
- White Paper – A new system of child maintenance (745KB)
- Questions and answers for Child Support Agency clients (This link will take you to The Child Support Agency website)
- Summary of the White Paper (250KB)
- Regulatory Impact Assessment (237KB)
The Henshaw report
Sir David Henshaw reported his findings on redesigning child support on 24 July 2006. Read Sir David Henshaw's report.
The Government responded to Sir David Henshaw’s report in July 2006. Read A fresh start: child support redesign – the Government's response to Sir David Henshaw.