Family and civil law

This House of Commons Library briefing sets out how the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) calculates the amount of child maintenance payable under the 2012 statutory child maintenance scheme.

This briefing was last updated in January 2017.

This paper describes what steps the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) may take when a Non-Resident Parent (also known as a “Paying Parent”) fails to pay child maintenance on time or in full. It also provides information on the application, collection and enforcement fees charged by the CMS, and briefly summarises analysis on the effectiveness of the CMS’s enforcement and collection system. This paper relates primary to Great Britain: Section 6 describes Northern Ireland’s system.

This briefing paper considers the current law relating to legal gender recognition; the medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria; the current protections from discrimination; gender recognition and minors; the consultations on reform of the GRA; and the self-identification debate.

This briefing provides an overview of the Public Sector Equality Duty and related debate.

This paper provides brief information in response to some key questions regarding the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak on separated families, maintenance arrangements and access to children.

Efforts by the Home Office to remedy the injustices suffered by people caught up in the Windrush scandal are ongoing. The Windrush compensation scheme is operational, and legislation underpinning the scheme received Royal Assent in June 2020. But some stakeholders remain dissatisfied with aspects of the Home Office's response to the scandal, for example citing ongoing delays in processing cases and applications for compensation.

House of Commons Library briefing on policies and services for people with a learning disability in England.

This Commons Library briefing paper deals with the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [HL] 2019-21 which would remove the legal requirement to make allegations about spousal conduct or to have lived separately for up to five years in order to divorce or dissolve a civil partnership

This paper provides an overview of the constitutional status and functions of the law officers of the United Kingdom. This includes the law officers of the UK Government and those that advise the three devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

This Commons Library briefing paper provides an overview of the post-implementation review of the changes made to legal aid in England and Wales by Part 1 of LASPO.

The Coronavirus Bill includes provisions to expand the availability of video and audio link in criminal court proceedings. It also makes it easier to broadcast civil, family and tribunal proceedings by video or audio link. These provisions, as with the rest of the Bill, are temporary.