Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission review on Deduction Orders

The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission has published a review of the performance of deduction orders. The review focuses on the first year of operation of the child maintenance collection tool, which allows the Commission to deduct money directly from the bank or building society accounts of parents with child maintenance arrears.

The powers were introduced under the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008. The Commission can either apply for a lump sum deduction order for one-off payment or a regular deduction order to collect arrears at regular intervals.

During the first year of operation, £760,000 was collected as a result of deduction order action, with £113,000 of this amount being paid by non-resident parents after being warned that money would be deducted from their account. Of the £760,000 total, £610,000 was received through lump sum deduction orders and £150,000 through regular deduction orders.

Five hundred orders were made, which collected an average of £2,200 per successful order. The Commission claims that it is unlikely that much of the total collected could have been recovered without deduction orders.