Child Maintenance Service introduces major change AND wipes debt from cases
Joanna Lovell
Associate EditorThe Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says its new rules from February 2024 will benefit thousands of parents
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is introducing a major change, which it says will make it easier for parents to claim money from an ex.
Under new plans, the CMS will also write-off the arrears from a number of cases.
Firstly, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed it will scrap the CMS application fee – so from next month parents will not have to fork out £20 just to apply to open a case regarding money for their child.
It will also clear any debt owed by non-resident parents which totals £7 or under – because this money is 'not worth' chasing.
'We are removing the £20 application fee to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) so no child misses out because their parents can't afford to apply,' DWP Minister Viscount Younger of Leckie said.
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Free to apply from 26 February
Currently, only victims of domestic violence can apply to open a case with the CMS for free, with every other parent charged a £20 fee to use the government's service.
However, from Monday 26 February, any parent applying to use the CMS will be able to do so without being charged.
It is hoped that by removing this barrier, more single parents will come forward to apply to use the CMS.
However, the DWP has stressed that no parent upon learning about the fee being scrapped, should delay their application until after 26 February.
This is because child maintenance payments cannot be backdated.
Therefore, if parents wait until 26 February to avoid the £20 fee, they could lose more money in the long-run because payments cannot be backdated before the date the claim was made.
Viscount Younger of Leckie said: 'Our message to parents is clear, don't delay in making an application to the CMS so full financial support is received as soon as possible.'
- Do you use the CMS? Does it work for you? Email joanna.lovell@netmums.com with your story.
Wiping debts
The DWP is also writing off any unpaid child maintenance worth £7 or less.
The DWP says arrears of £7 or less in certain identified cases are 'not worthy' of chasing.
It says most of these cases are 'inactive', and would have been closed if it were not for small outstanding balances.
A DWP spokesperson said: 'We are introducing that measure for two reasons.
'First, keeping such cases open requires considerable resource, and taking action to recover such small amounts often costs more than the value of the debt.
'The cost of leaving such cases open could increase for decades, with no greater chance of money being paid to receiving parents.
'We need to ensure that taxpayers’ money, as well as caseworker time and effort, is directed effectively, for example by focusing action against parents who owe significantly larger sums and where the impact on children missing out on money is greater.
'Secondly, given that we close cases only when we have stopped calculating child maintenance payments, it is likely that such cases will no longer be needed.
'That could be because the child has become an adult, the parents have reconciled, or the absent parent has sadly passed away. It therefore makes sense to close these cases, not least for the certainty and clarity it provides for families.'
What is child maintenance?
Child maintenance is a sum of money paid by the non-resident parent to the resident parent to provide for a child's living costs.
The CMS is able to access the paying parent's income details, which are provided to the DWP department by HMRC. A caseworker can then calculate the amount owed, which is called the 'weekly liability.'
To check what you should be owed, you can use the CMS calculator online.
If using the CMS, there are two payment routes.
The separated parents can set up a 'direct pay' system, where the non-resident parent pays the resident parent the amount calculated by the CMS voluntarily and directly to the other parent. The CMS re-calculates the amount owed every year, as part of an annual review.
There's also a Collect and Pay system where the CMS collects payments from the paying parent and pays it to the receiving parent – but both parents have to pay to use this scheme.
if using the Collect and Pay scheme, the CMS charges the paying parent 20% of the maintenance amount and charges the receiving parent 4%.
The CMS says it helps around 930,000 children get the financial support they are entitled to and between June 2022-2023 arranged a record £1.2 billion on their behalf.
New powers given to CMS
It comes after the CMS was given new powers to protect victims of domestic abuse from having to have contact with an abusive ex-partner.
The Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Bill aims to protect both paying and receiving parents who are vulnerable to domestic abuse, ensuring more children in separated families are supported.
Under the new laws, the CMS can collect and make payments on a parent's behalf, using the Collect and Pay scheme, without the consent of an abusive ex-partner.
Before the Bill was passed, the CMS only allowed the Collect and Pay scheme to be used after the paying parent consistently failed to pay.
How much child maintenance should I get?
The actual amount the non-resident parent is liable to pay the resident parent depends on the paying parent's circumstances – including their salary, how many children they have, with deductions for each night the child spends at their house, and further deductions if they have other children living with them.
What happens if I think my Child Maintenance payments are wrong?
Last year it was revealed that child maintenance mistakes now take up more than half of all rulings against the Government's welfare department.
If you use the CMS and don't believe its calculations are correct, you can contact the CMS to get them to look at your payments.
If you think it has made a mistake (such as an error in earnings) you can ask for an appeal, or if you don’t feel the amount you get reflects your circumstances correctly (such as income the paying parent hasn’t declared) then you can ask for a variation.
What does child maintenance cover?
Child maintenance helps to pay towards your child’s living expenses, but whether things like school trips and passports are included in that often comes down to whether it’s something you negotiated with your ex-partner when you agreed on your payment amount.
Legally, you can’t retrospectively get your ex to pay for trips and extras if it hasn’t been pre-agreed, but if you’re on good terms with them, then you could approach them to see if it’s something they’d be willing to contribute to.
You can find more help and advice here
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