Child Maintenance Service statistics: background information and methodology

Added information for the June 2026 publication (data to March 2026)

2 minor changes have been made to the entries about the statistics published in December 2019 and June 2021. The latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics has been published today (17 December 2024).

Revised background note. A new section called ‘September 2024 publication (data to June 2024)’ has been added. This has information about the data in the latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics, published today (24 September 2024).

Revised background note. A new section called ‘June 2024 publication (data to March 2024)’ has been added. This has information about the data in the latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics, published today (25 June 2024).

Revised background note - updated the information about Compliance in the Definitions and terminology section. The latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics has been published today (26 March 2024).

Revised background note — the information in the section about the status of the statistics has been updated, and minor style changes have been made throughout the document. The latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics has been published today (26 September 2023).

Revised background note - minor style changes and revisions have been made throughout the document. A new section called ‘June 2023 publication (data to March 2023)’ has been added. This has information about the data in the latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics.

The background note has been given a new ISBN reference number. No other changes to the information have been made. The latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics has been published today (28 March 2023).

The background note has been given a new ISBN reference number. No other changes to the information have been made. The latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics has been published today (13 December 2022).

Revised background note - includes a new section called 'December 2021 publication (data to September 2021'. This has information about the data in the latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics. The latest statistics have been published today, 14 December 2021.

Revised background note - includes a new section called 'September 2021 publication (data to June 2021)'. This has information about the data in the latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics (published today, 28 September 2021).

Revised background note — includes a new section called 'June 2021 publication (data to March 2021)'. This has information about the data in the latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics (published today, 29 June 2021).

Revised background note — includes a new section called 'March 2021 publication (data to December 2020)'. This has information about the data in the latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics (published today, 24 March 2021).

Revised background note - includes a new section called 'December 2020 publication (data to September 2020)'. This has information about the data in the latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics (also published today, 16 December 2020).

Revised background note - updated with information about the latest release of statistics (September 2020 publication with data to June 2020). These statistics have also been published today, 30 September 2020.

Revised background note - includes information about the data in the latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics (also published today, 24 June 2020).

Published a revised background information and methodology document, now dated March 2020. Updated the log detailing changes to the statistics each quarter, to reflect changes made for the latest release of statistics, also published today (25 March 2020).

Added information about methodological changes made for the December 2019 publication in the section on 'Corrections to methodology'.

Revised document, now dated September 2019: updated the definitions in the document to ensure they align with the definitions in the release of statistics, included a section to explain revisions and methodological corrections, and revised the section about data sources to reflect the current assessment of their quality.

Published a revised background information and methodology document, now dated June 2019. This has been revised to support the latest release of the Child Maintenance Service statistics.

Published revised document: moved ‘Data Quality and Sources’, originally a subsection in the ‘Purpose of the Statistics’ section, to be its own section; added information about the estimates used in place of some December 2018 figures to the new ‘Data Quality and Sources’ section; updated the ‘Definitions and Terminology’ sub-section to reflect recent changes to the publication.

Published a revised background information and methodology document, now dated February 2018. This has been revised to support the latest release of Child Maintenance Service statistics.

Published revised background information and methodology document, dated 29 November 2017. Numerous changes throughout.

First published.