To ask the Minister for Communities to detail any enforcement provision available for the Child Maintenance Service where there have been multiple investigations and findings of undeclared income.

The Child Maintenance Service Northern Ireland (CMS NI) calculates the amount of child maintenance a Paying Parent is legally required to pay. Failure to pay the required amount may result in civil enforcement action being taken against the Paying Parent. Civil enforcement action includes Deduction from Earnings Orders, Lump Sum Deduction Orders, Regular Deduction Orders or Liability Orders. The Liability Order further grants CMS NI the ability to refer debt / arrears to the Enforcement of Judgements Office. The Enforcement of Judgments Office (EJO) is a centralised unit for enforcing civil judgments related to the recovery of money, goods and property of the courts.

The CMS also has a Financial Investigations Unit which makes use of statutory powers under The Child Support Information Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 to investigate in cases where a Paying Parent is suspected of deliberately hiding income or providing fraudulent financial information.