Clause 6
Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill
10:30 am
Danny Alexander (Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Work & Pensions; Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Liberal Democrat)
Perhaps I have not explained myself clearly enough. In a sense, the hon. Gentleman supports my argument. A charging regime, as the Bill allows, under which charges can be levied on all classes of people who interact with CMEC, could serve such a purpose. It could put pressure on people to enter into voluntary agreements. I do not know what level of charges the Minister has in mind. If it is to be set at £100 and there is a £10 disregard, it could effectively be 10 weeks’ maintenance for a benefit case and a significant disincentive.
The purpose of the amendment is to say that charges should not apply automatically just because a person has applied to CMEC if the voluntary agreement had fallen through, for example. Charges should apply only when a person has been through the CMEC system and the non-resident parent has been asked to pay money. If, in such cases, the non-resident parent has failed to pay the child support maintenance to which he is obligated, charges could then apply. In other cases, they would not.