Policy background
All parents have a legal responsibility to support their children financially until they are 16 years old and, in some circumstances, until they are 20. This can be through voluntary arrangements between separated parents, arrangements made by way of a court order, or by way of child maintenance calculated and enforced under the statutory child maintenance scheme run by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and administered by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).
	The statutory child maintenance scheme was introduced by the 1991 Act and has been in operation since 1993. The current scheme was introduced in December 2012 and all applications since November 2013 have been calculated under the "2012 rules". (The two previous schemes, the "1993 rules" and the "2003 rules" are now closed.)  Under the statutory scheme, the CMS is responsible for calculating child maintenance payments and, in some cases, collecting and enforcing them. A Parent With Care (PWC) cannot bring enforcement proceedings against the Non Resident Parent (NRP) for the child maintenance payments due. Only the CMS has legal standing to take enforcement action against the NRP.
	The CMS manages cases through one of two service types: direct pay and collect and pay. In direct pay cases, the CMS calculates how much maintenance should be paid, issues a payment schedule, and the NRP pays the maintenance to the PWC. For collect and pay, CMS calculates how much maintenance should be paid, collects the money from the NRP and pays it to the PWC.
	There are collection charges set out in regulations for the use of the collect and pay service: 20% on top of the liability for the NRP, and 4% of the maintenance received for the PWC.
	If the NRP fails to make one or more payments as instructed, arrears accrue and stand-alone administrative enforcement powers can be used to collect those arrears. These administrative enforcement powers are a Deduction from Earnings Order (DEO) or a Deduction from Bank or Building Society Accounts (DOs). Once commenced, this Act will also allow administrative liability orders to be made.
	For employed NRPs, the CMS may make a DEO instructing the NRP’s employer to make deductions directly from the NRP’s earnings and pay the CMS. For NRPs who are not in employment, CMS may make a DO requiring a Bank or Building Society to make deductions from a NRP’s Bank or Building Society Account and pay the CMS.
	Under current legislation, where CMS administrative enforcement functions are inappropriate or prove ineffective in collecting the arrears, the CMS is required to apply to the Magistrates’ Court in England and Wales, or Sheriff’s Court in Scotland to obtain a LO before the use of more stringent enforcement powers such as instructing enforcement agents or other court-based enforcement actions. Once commenced, this Act will allow the CMS to make an administrative liability order without requiring application to the Magistrates’ Court in England and Wales, or Sheriff’s Court in Scotland.