I beg to move

That the Child Support (Management of Payments and Arrears) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023 be approved.

The Business Committee has agreed that there should be no time limit on the debate.

The regulations, which came into operation on 26 February this year, enable my Department to make amendments to child maintenance legislation and overall improvements to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). The regulations allow for the write-off of arrears of less than £7. That is intended to help reduce the overall arrears balance and extinguish liability for the arrears of child support maintenance where it appears to my Department that it would be unfair or otherwise inappropriate to enforce liability for the arrears. That will ensure that efforts and resources can be focused on taking action to collect unpaid arrears in the cases that will make the biggest difference to children.

In the regulations, we take the pragmatic approach of bringing forward powers to write off minimal amounts of less than £7 on a small number of inactive cases. The reason for the figure of £7 is that the minimum child maintenance payment is £7 a week. Those cases would otherwise have been closed were it not for the small outstanding balances. As of February 2024, there were approximately 193 relevant cases held by CMS operations. It is estimated that the maximum total amount of arrears across those cases is £1,306. The regulations permit the Department to write off arrears where the arrears have accrued under an application for child maintenance; the arrears relate to a case where the maintenance calculation has ceased in specific circumstances; the arrears are less than £7; and the paying parent has failed to make any payments in the past three months.

We introduce the measures for two pragmatic reasons. First, the reality is that keeping open that small number of cases with low levels of arrears requires considerable human and financial resources, and taking the required actions to recover such small amounts of arrears often costs more than the actual value of the arrears. If the cases were to be left open, the cost of maintaining the cases could increase for years, with no greater chance of money being paid to receiving parents. The regulations will ensure that the Child Maintenance Service caseworkers' time and effort are used efficiently. Secondly, given that the CMS will close only cases in which the service has stopped calculating child maintenance payments, it is likely that payments will no longer be needed. That could be because the child has become an adult; the parents have reconciled; or the paying parent has, sadly, passed away. Therefore, it makes sense to close those cases, not least for the certainty and clarity that it provides for families. The full details of the criteria that permit the writing off of arrears are set out in the regulations, but they include where maintenance calculations have ceased and where no payments have been made in the previous three months.

The changes build on several improvements that we have already made and are among the first in a further wave of measures that we plan to bring forward to ensure that the service is more accessible, simpler, speedier and, ultimately, gets more money to more children more quickly.

As Deputy Chairperson, I support the Child Support (Management of Payments and Arrears) (Amendment) Regulations (NI) 2023. The Committee considered the statutory rule at its meeting on 22 February 2024. At that meeting, members were briefed by officials from the Department who provided an overview of the regulations. As the Minister outlined, the amendments allow the Child Maintenance Service to write off arrears of less than £7 under certain conditions. That adjustment is practical and necessary. It applies when a maintenance calculation has ceased and no payments have been made by the non-resident parent in the three months preceding the Department's decision to write off the arrears. It is an efficient way to handle cases in which the cost of pursuing the debt far exceeds its value.

The legislative context is rooted in the Child Support (NI) Order 1991, which requires that parents continue to fulfil their financial responsibilities towards their children even if they no longer live together. The amendment aligns with the overarching goal of child maintenance legislation, which is to maximise effective maintenance arrangements for children who are living apart from one or both parents.

As the Minister outlined, the key amendments to the 2009 regulations are twofold: first, the arrears' extinguishment; and, secondly, the notification requirements. On consultation and feedback, the Committee understands that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) conducted a public consultation between June and August 2021 that invited opinions on the proposals for extinguishing the low-level debt. The feedback indicated general agreement, albeit with some reservations and differing opinions on the maximum level of arrears to be written off. Ultimately, the threshold was set at £6·99, just below the £7 flat rate of child maintenance, ensuring that the maintenance process remains efficient without undue loss to the receiving parent.

The Committee was also made aware that the financial and operational implications of the amendments will result in operational cost savings for the Child Maintenance Service, as the expense of collecting the low-value debts significantly outweighs their actual worth.

That measure ensures that resources are used more effectively, thereby enhancing the efficiency of the child maintenance system.

Committee members were content that the Child Support (Management of Payment and Arrears) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 reflected a pragmatic approach to child maintenance. Allowing the Child Maintenance Service to extinguish low-level debts will ensure that resources are allocated efficiently. That will benefit the overall system, support the primary goal of child maintenance legislation and allow the Child Maintenance Service to better allocate its efforts towards supporting children and families who rely on maintenance payments. The Committee acknowledges that the regulations have been considered to ensure that they do not have any adverse impact on equality of opportunity or good relations for any of the section 75 equality groups. The policy was considered to be largely technical in nature, with a primary goal of enhancing the efficiency of the Child Maintenance Service.

Following discussion, the Committee recommended that the regulations be approved by the Assembly. Therefore, on behalf of the Committee for Communities, I am content to recommend that the Assembly approves the Child Support (Management of Payment and Arrears) (Amendment) Regulations (NI) 2023.

As the Deputy Chair rightly outlined, the regulations were considered by the Committee at an earlier stage. It is important to point out that, whilst those particular regulations are important and, in the same breath, somewhat minor, there is a wider challenge for our Assembly and citizens. The welfare system is supposed to be a safety net to protect people, but the reality, given where we currently sit in Northern Ireland, with the rising costs of food, fuel and every aspect of living generally, is that it is falling short. It does not do enough to support people, and the SDLP has been saying that for a long number of years. As Members pointed out in the previous debate on the benefit cap regulations, we voted against the benefit cap legislation at Westminster. The party across the Chamber supported that legislation, Sinn Féin did not show up and the Alliance Party supported it. When it comes to the welfare system in Northern Ireland, a lot of people are being forced into poverty as a result of the legislation that is in place and the failure of the Executive to acknowledge it.

I welcome these regulations but make the broader point that we should not praise the benefit system in any way, because it is leaving our people in a very difficult situation, adding to their challenges and bringing about poverty. It is far from a safety net, particularly when you compare it to the South of this island, which is doing a lot more for vulnerable people and working families than this place could ever dream of.

I will respond to the comments of Mr McCrossan first. He is a debate late on the issues that he is trying to raise. The regulations that we are debating relate to the Child Maintenance Service and the changes that we are trying to make there. We understand that the work of the Child Maintenance Service is vital and these regulations, albeit minor, will make a difference and help to deliver a more cost-effective system and contribute to the goal of the overall improvement of the Child Maintenance Service.

If the Member would like to have a wider debate on the welfare system in Northern Ireland, I am sure that the Business Office and the party Whips will consider it. There are things that are in our control and others that are outside it. That is why we are doing what we can to mitigate some of the changes that took place. However, in making sure that we have adequate support and address some of the anti-poverty issues that we want to deal with, that work will be wide-ranging. I look forward to having the Member's support so that we can tackle the root causes of poverty.

In many ways, we wish that the Child Maintenance Service did not have to exist. It exists because of failures that take place elsewhere: that is the world that we live in. I hope that the changes that we make today can at least make it more effective. Therefore, I commend the motion to the House.

Question put and agreed to. Resolved:

That the Child Support (Management of Payments and Arrears) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023 be approved.