Child and Spousal Support: Maintenance Enforcement Survey Statistics

Information is collected through the Maintenance Enforcement Survey (MES) and the Survey of Maintenance Enforcement Programs (SMEP). These surveys gather information on the caseload of the MEP, the sex and median age of payors and recipients, typical support amounts, compliance rates, information on arrears, frequency and amount of payments, legislation under which the order for support was made, and types of actions that are initiated in order to enforce support.

The SMEP, a micro data survey, is currently being implemented in some jurisdictions and eventually all 13 provincial/territorial MEPs will report to the SMEP. This report contains data from Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. In future years, with more provinces and territories able to report to the SMEP, a more complete national picture of maintenance enforcement will emerge.