CMS Complaints, Appeals and Tribunals

£537.11 a month when I have fully shared care in every aspect. Decision made solely on the lies told by the ex and that she gets child benefit (cb charge means it would be lost from my daughter if I claimed). We agreed a family based arrangement, and she put in writing no child maintenance would be paid - but her own words were "insufficient evidence" apparently and she somehow remains the primary carer. There is no aspect of my daughter's care that we don't fully share. Well, apart from the fact that she refuses to share costs for anything I've paid for of course. Having to go to appeal, and if that fails mediation and court. They encourage us to use family based arrangements, but when the mother reneges they force fathers through the system. CMS even admitted to me on the phone that they always go with the mother's word, even though not one of their agents believed any maintenance should be paid.

Another 50/50 dad checking in wondering why he is having to pay any CMS when it’s quite clear than having. 50/50 means day right day care is split equally.

The csa system is a joke i was paying my ex csa even tho she had stopped me seeing my son for years then one day at work social services rang me my sin had been beaten by his stepdad who broke his collar bone according to social services this was not the 1st time and they was taking my ex to court and asked if id go in and have an interview so i travelled back jumped thru all there hoops and was told if i took my ex to court for custody they would support this which i did and on day of verdict which i may add was going my way the ex strolls in with a smile from ear to ear throws papers on the desk she had been to another court and swapped custody from her ti her mom and dad the judge demanded an enquiry over it as was not meant to be possible never heard any thing else over that but the grandmother has seen chased me for csa but only me the mother as never paid a penny how is this right or fair my son came to live with me then when he was 15 and i had him till he moved to his own place at 21 why or how is this fair im the one they constantly chasing and harassing theres got to be something i can do i support my wife and her 2 kids and pay for another directly into her bank account

Contacted by the CMS and asked to prove that as I was made unemployed and even though I had a P45 that I had still to prove I had no employment.

My Ex has now put me on child support after every week i give more than i am suppose to, i have been supporting my child and have been buying 90% of everything for my child, she has dumped me, fought her family physically and also stopped me completely from seeing my lovely beautiful baby...I have begged to support her in everything not only financially, but also emotionally, i have written to her the importance of a father in a child's life and all she does is send verbal abuse, I told her we will be going to court about this then. ALL of a sudden child support services has sent me a letter demanding money from me, After all money sent via BANK TRANSFERwith reference to my daughter. If she goes through CMS she will get less than what she demanded, HOW STUPID. How can women treat supporting fathers like this. My ex's mother still adores how i look after my child to this current day, and i am so good with her family.

I found CSA to be very helpful when I first split with my ex in 2008. They gave him a chance to pay but when he still refused 6 months later, they managed to get an attachment to earnings order set up. I had no issues and received regular payments for years. That was until CMS took over. They decided that as his wage had increased, that he should pay more. They notified him and he said he wanted to make a direct payment as opposed to take from wages. I asked for it to come from wages because I knew he had no intention of paying. They said they had to give him a chance. While this was going through, the CSA's attachment order was still in place. Understandably he did not want to pay any additional money until that was cancelled. CSA said they had sent the appropriate paperwork through and it should have been cancelled. CMS said they didn't have the paperwork through to cancel it. Eventually it was cancelled and CSA gave the money they collected to CMS. I was told by CSA the money was to come to me, CMS gave it to him. Over £2000. After weeks of chasing I received £800 and he was not making any regular payments. After months of messing around, I asked CMS to deduct payment from source. They did eventually get something in place, however it was for the same amount and then they deducted their fees from it. I contacted CMS and complained. I was robbed off with 2 week investigation which found I received the correct amount. I questioned again if I should be paying his fees, was told no. Another 2 week wait and no-one got back to me. I called again and was told no I shouldn't be paying and was left in limbo again while waiting for a case handler to call me back. Then all payments stopped. I rang and again a case handler would get back to me. Before the case handler could call me back, my daughter received a message from his sister saying tell your mother she won't be getting another penny from your dad, he's left the country. I informed CMS, who insisted they had no knowledge and would investigate. Months pass and the feedback I received was that they believed he was still in the UK. I asked for the fees I paid back and was told it should be returned and needed authorising. It never happened and I gave up trying to contact them. Today I received my yearly statement through reminding me that my children are owed thousands of pounds and that the CMS had sent the paperwork to his address, which we know he doesn't live at anymore. I have issued a complaint through the online service but once it was submitted a message appeared stating that due to Covid 19, complaints are not being routinely looked at and someone will be in touch as and when there is time. I am frustrated and let down by the system. He is never go to pay. The best they could do is return the fees and freeze the account until he is located. They yearly reminder that we've struggled without help is seriously damaging my mental health.

Covid 19 does not affect my self emoyed ex as he refuses to work whilst he dodges his support. But why dont cms chase payments he has decided to not pay and cms saying wont chase missing payments till pandemic over this coukd be months and months .he has logged numerous mandatory requests and now to tribunal to avoid payinghe lives of a huge pot of money called dividrnds .eill he win the appeal .we are struggling financially .feel very let down

Cms deducted money from my isa even know i have a court hearing of appeal, that is illegal to take the money out until hearing is over?? Is this correct or can i take action for this??

Can someone please explain to me how after taking my ex to court and managing to get 50/50 shared care for my daughter that I still have to pay CMS? I find this baffling as we both work she receives child benefit (which I don't), she lives with her parents whereas I have had to move city to be closer to my daughter and now have rent, council tax, bills, car finance, student loan etc etc. The only person this is truly effecting is our daughter as this means I do not have the funds to spend on her while with me. Growing up, she will clearly start to feel this and it will surely impact her feelings towards me as she will be thinking that her mum cares more and is more fun as she will be spending more on her than I would be. I will not be able to go on holidays with my daughter whereas her mum can now easily afford this. What can I do????

Hi I’m absolutely astonished with cms service as I split with my ex and she started claiming cms on September 2019 which was 161 a month i had struggled to pay September November and December Januaryas had attachment of earnings that was bills my ex didn’t pay but they taken February and March from earnings at 270 so after fees I’ve paid 112 of arrears now don’t get me wrong I will pay as for kids but 4x161=644 then minus 112 arrears should be 532 but they saying I owe 795 which is just arrears to me is wrong and absolutely disgusting as I have 50/50 custody now how on earth do they think 263 pound is not going to be noticed

My partner split from his ex jan 2017 he walked out of their home and she moved her new partner in 3 days later. She had all his accounts and went on cms website and input what she thought was his net figure which actually was his gross but could not check it as she had the figures. He paid her £520 a month voluntarily when he met me I said that seemed a lot. His accounts were not up to date due to her having everything so they went off last fig of Hmrc. It was £163 a month. Then it got put to a financial investigator because of his income which we updated and provided he was happy and passed it back to cms to work out. It took them 2 months to come back with a figure of £140 a month which included some arrears but not sure what. Get a text in July next 3 payments will be £499 a month! Ring up say it’s arrears. We challenged it as he had already overpaid her nearly £7 k voluntarily. They rang and said if you don’t hear from us by 1st of month pay normal fee ie not with arrears on. We did this, went on holiday. Came back to a letter saying we have 7 days to provide evidence of not paying arrears which had passed . Rang up said could we have extra time to send in. He said he would try. Next day received a letter because he missed £23 payment which he was told not to pay he’s not on Collect and pay or provide evidence why. Wrote letter saying what they said and said we would pay it but not going to collect and pay. 2 days later received letter looked into complaint and sticking to £1k arrears so not even got our evidence. Next letter we have collect and pay arrears even though not replied to our letter and arrears gone up to £1400 even though we have not missed payments. Received next letters for annual review £200 including any arrears so where has £1400 gone but another letter saying still owe it. Spoke to them today apparently arrears gone up as receiver saying we missed a payment when it clearly shows it coming out of his account. It’s a farse and causes so much stress !!!

I knew my ex was receiving universal credits I informed cms of this and they said they had no record of this I then put in a complaint as I saw msgs on phone to log onto his Uc account therefore I started to receive a big £7 a week my ex then started to work around one Yr later I informed cms of this and his employers address for over a mth I rang cms to check progress I just kept getting told they are trying to contact his employer the employer has two weeks to respond if they don't respond by two weeks will try to contact again. I asked the cms can they not get details of earnings from hmrc and they informed no I then put on another complaint then all of a sudden a week later I received notice of my new award of a whole & 7 a week as they worked out his earnings as £70 per week I know this is not correct I have now put in a mandatory reconsideration and will appeal that if have to as I know earnings are over £200 a week I feel the cms have not done job and just get fobbed off and lied to I asked how they got his earnings and last lady said by hmrc but previously said they don't contact hmrc shall I also put in another complaint as well as mandatory reconsideration I spent dlso much time ringing sending msgs waiting half an hr to answer phone when I could be spending time with chikdren if they just did job in first place

My partners ex decided to start claiming after years of being happy with the payment for nearly £400 a month CSA came to us with a figure they apparently got from HMRC (this is a lie and have letters from HMRC saying it’s incorrect) but this is amount is nearly £10,000 more then his p60 and £20,000 more then his basic wage which means they want nearly £200 more a month which will cripple us we physically can’t afford it with 3 of our own children and a house and bills we’re having to appeal as they said they won’t look at a it again as it’s not 25% but surly they would need to get the figure right in the first place? How can they just make one up? We can’t be the only people this is happening to I feel completely lost and just hoping by appealing a judge will see our side :(

I was informed by CMS in January 2018 that my ex husband was working, despite me only receiving the flat rate (£2.50pw per child). It took until the end of August 2018 to get a proper payment, despite being strung along for months by the CMS and being promised payments. By the time I got a payment £2000 of arrears had accumulated. There is now a deduction of earnings order in place. Since August payments have been eratic and varied and in 3 separate months I haven’t received a payment at all. When chasing the payments the CMS have been continually unhelpful, obstructive and provided inconsistent information. However it appears that on the months I haven’t received a payment the CMS have withheld my payments despite receiving them from the employer. It appears that the employer pays a bulk payment to the CMS each month as he has several employees who have deduction of earning orders. If there is an issue with any of the payments that is paid in the bulk payment they won’t realise anyone’s payment until it is sorted. So my payments have been withheld for long periods of time because there is an issue with a payment on another case that is totally unrelated to my case. I am currently pursuing another complaint and I have informed my MP about this ongoing issue. The CMS are currently withholding a payment they received from the employer nearly 4 weeks ago and they won’t explain why or release my payment. It’s a joke!!!!

Since January 2019 I asked Cms to open a case against my daughters adoptive father After a few days of confirming with their legal team about whether or not they can pursue a claim they contacted me with their decision. Not long after that they sent me a calculation of what I will be receiving from then on I have received nothing. The adoptive parent requested a mandatory reconsideration a week before the first payment was due. This was on the 5th of March that I got the news but they told me he should still pay until they complete their investigation. He has not paid and another payment has gone unpaid and cms still tell me they're waiting on more evidence to come in. He is getting away with not paying and cms are happy to take their time with my case. 2 months of them doing a mandatory reconsideration is a joke as his wage is not different so what can I do to get my money?

I’m still paying 90 a week for my daughter who works and finished full time educational 2017!!! . Currently waiting for my appeal date. Absolute piss take. My 11 year old has been on holiday once it’s not far

I'm being made to pay 33 a month towards my ex petrol for his travel expenses. He has our son 2 nights a month. He also doesn't actually travel in the varnhes told the CSA he drives down in. I appealed the decision and they said there was.kot enough evidence to support my claim however I can't see jowy ex has evidence to say different. I have a picture of him in his work car picking up my son and also a video of him stating he's in his work car. His work pay the petrol for this car. So effectively I'm 35 a month short to pay for petrol costs he doesn't pay for. I have to now go to a.tribunal if I want to appeal again. Can I have some advice on the best way to state my case please. I'm not sure where to start.

I have been paying child support into both of my kids Bank accounts in the sum of £160 per month the combine figure since April 2018 to December 2018. This is not in dispute and children mother accept receipt of payments. I have always maintained payments each month, I received a letter from CSA for non-payments, however I sent proof of payments via the CSA Client Portal. Therefore, I can't understand on what grounds CSA sent deduction from earnings order (DEO) to my employer. I received 2 letters dated 23rd November 2018 from CSA about issuing of DEO When I called CSA I was told by the gentleman I spoke with that the DEO was sent to my Employer due to non-payment of child support since June 2018, he acknowledge receipt I sent of all my Bank receipts confirming Payments into each of the kids bank account and further stated that the Children mother accepts the payments are for child support, however because I paid the money into the Kids account and not the Mother accounts, he doesn't accept those payments hence the reason for the DEO. Furthermore, a previous child support case that was cancelled by Children Mother in 2012 which she obtains a Court order 2009 without my Knowledge of the case for the sum of £9,000. CSA has brought forward and included in DEO. From speaking to a Elaine of CSA I was told that if a case is cancelled then there should be no money owing and such balance should not be brought forward into a new case. The DEO should have never been sent to my Employer as I did not stop or refuse to make child support payment. This is causing me great financial burden and I am unable to support my other 3 Kids, it is not fair for 1 Mother to get £540 per month and the other 3 Mother gets nothing. I made numerous phone calls to CSA since December 2018 and each time I am told they will ask the person dealing with the case to call me back. This has never happened

Here we go again.I have been paying child support to the child support agency for over 25 years.I am one of the Fathers that was abused and insulted by the CSA many years ago when they made a big mess of things.At that time you could not pay your partner direct it had to be paid to CSA and then your partner did not receive the full amount you paid anyway.It was totally unfair to your partner as she was not receiving any payments as it was taking the CSA years to sort out the mess they made.Therefore I am still paying arrears not to my ex partner who I do not know where she lives or whether she is still in the country but to the State who messed it up.I have paid every month without missing one payment but now it has been transferred to the Child Maintenance Service who tell me they do not have a record of my payments as they have not been received this details yet from CSA.My son is now 31 years of age.I do not know where he or my ex partner is as I have not had contact with any of them for over 25 years.I am not refusing to pay my arrears I just need the correct details to do pay this in instalments .I willcontinuingto pay the arrears to the CSA because I do not want them to say I have not paid.I have a copy ofevery payment made. Do you remember all the protests that was done many years ago back in 1990s.Well here we go again. Oh and some people who have arrears from many years ago have received letters to say due to circumstances they are cancelling their arrears.Well I have not Well I am now semi retired so what happens now.I am sure they are hoping I live into my 100s so they can continue with this mess

I divorced my husband in 2013. Along with the divorce, my ex was was given a court order for spousal maintenance. He paid this for around two years and then I received nothing. My solicitor suggested using the Child maintenance Service. At first my payments (using the collect and pay service ) were 28 pound a month! I disputed this and it is still currently being investigated by the CMS Financial investigation team with no real results. Payments are now calculated 128 a month. The problem is, my ex opens companies under his name, is listed on sites as a director, and more recently he has dissolved his various companies, and is no longer listed as a director anywhere.. His new partner now has a company in her nam at her home address where they both reside. When you search the company on google my Ex's phone number shows.If you call the alternative contact number he also answers. He claims he is earning 13,600- below minimum wage. When the CMS ask for details of employer for deduction of earnings, they have no information. They cant seem to obtain who he banks with, and despite me telling them they wont accept that the address they have on file is his late mothers. If you google the previous address it even tells you that the property was recently sold. My ex goes through stages of paying and not paying and has done for 7 years. He sets up direct debits and cancels them to make a card payment. He then says he has had a problem with his wages or problem with the bank, and he will pay by cheque!!!! Inevitably the cheque bounces!. Yet still the CMS give him extension after extension to pay and no payment is achieved.Where do I go from here?

I divorced my husband in 2013. Along with the divorce, my ex was was given a court order for spousal maintenance. He paid this for around two years and then I received nothing. My solicitor suggested using the Child maintenance Service. At first my payments (using the collect and pay service ) were 28 pound a month! I disputed this and it is still currently being investigated by the CMS Financial investigation team with no real results. Payments are now calculated 128 a month. The problem is, my ex opens companies under his name, is listed on sites as a director, and more recently he has dissolved his various companies, and is no longer listed as a director anywhere.. His new partner now has a company in her nam at her home address where they both reside. When you search the company on google my Ex's phone number shows.If you call the alternative contact number he also answers. He claims he is earning 13,600- below minimum wage. When the CMS ask for details of employer for deduction of earnings, they have no information. They cant seem to obtain who he banks with, and despite me telling them they wont accept that the address they have on file is his late mothers. If you google the previous address it even tells you that the property was recently sold. My ex goes through stages of paying and not paying and has done for 7 years. He sets up direct debits and cancels them to make a card payment. He then says he has had a problem with his wages or problem with the bank, and he will pay by cheque!!!! Inevitably the cheque bounces!. Yet still the CMS give him extension after extension to pay and no payment is achieved.Where do I go from here?

My partners ex decided to go through CMS and I support parents should pay and everything else. However my partner handed his payslips over and had done over time one of the months.. He earns £940 and they are saying he needs to pay £214. That is outrageous! He has around £760 outgoings and this will bankrupt him, I am currently on benefits due to work being quiet at this time of the year and because we have a spare room for the two little ones we wont be getting any HB due to bedroom tax. So after UC I wont even be able to cover my own rent. (500pcm). And he will be -£20 due to this incorrect calculation off a job he had over 2 years ago. We have appealed and they just recalculated it the same again. First he will loose his car and because he will loose his car he will then loose his job and then we will loose the house making us homeless! Please tell me why on earth calculations are not taken from current earnings?

I have been trying to claim child maintenance from my ex for 4 months now , they told him an amount he had to pay using direct pay but hasn’t paid a penny, after many phone calls I have eventually go them to agree to take it straight from his wages but as he has asked for yet another mandatory reconsideration they say they can’t collect from his wages until they have sorted that out even though I was told by 2 people ( 1 a manager) from child maintenance that because he hasn’t paid a penny in the last 4 months the collection from earnings can go ahead along side the mandatory reconsideration , now they have changed there minds again and said they have to deal with his reconsideration first . He leaves it until just before the dead line then asks for a mandatory reconsideration on something else , it’s never ending. I would like to know if it is possible to collect from earnings while a mandatory reconsideration is going on if he hasn’t ever paid a penny in child maintenance. Every time I ask them I get totally conflicting information

Having been left to bring up my 2 kids my ex wife was not forthcoming with payments. It got to the stage of having money taken via her employer which lasted a whole one payment. After constant contact with cms they told me they were in contact and asking why I’ve not been paid. No outcome or payments arrived. In July I was told they had re scheduled payments to start in August. I’ve had 2 payments and now it’s gone back to not paying. On calling them today all I got was the same old story. Is there nothing they can do to force payments on a regular basis or is it pot luck whether I can feed my kids.

Hi there, i pay my x wife directly through the CM, my elderst son has told me you 19 yr old has now finished college and is working so I stopped payment, today the CMS contacted me to say i need to pay but told them about him finishing college, they said i still have to pay as my ex said he’s still at college, I asked what proof they have he’s at college there reply was she’d told them, i asked for proof he’s still at college because if so I’m happy to pay they said they don’t have to proved any. Is there anything i can do?? I even called the college to see they won’t tell me because of data protection.

How long does it take to receive a statement of reasons from the judge after a tribunal hearing? We have been trying to start the appeal process for the last 8 months. Should I contact someone higher?

@BBB - thank you for your reply bbb however you are definetely not correct about that. The cms eventually closed the case down too because They eventually believed she was living abroad. They Also confirmed to me that CM is not claimable for abroad however there are certain exceptions, none of which my ex meets. That information is easily available via a google search... also, my post was advice on the best way forward to deal with my complaint which you haven’t helped with at all but thanks for your input.

@Law - your ex is entitled to claim child maintenance from you while living abroad. You still have to pay towards your child regardless of where your child is living. That's why CMS were possibly not that bothered what address she was living or that she was lying at as you'd still be required to pay. Basically, at the end of the day you have to pay child maintenance. If you think you don't (for whatever reason) you're fighting a losing battle, just saying. It sounds like what you are doing is picking out discrepancies in order to get out of paying. Trust me, CMS or anyone else is not interested in this. You have to pay, they get the money, full stop.

i have been through the cms complaints procedure and am not satisfied with their response and I’m now unsure whether I need to ask the independent case examiner to look at it or go straight to tribunal. My complaint involves them forcing me to pay cm whilst child and mum were habitually living abroad even after I provided the sufficient evidence, they were happy that when mum rang them she confirmed an English address through security and that was sufficient for them. Mum has now admitted to them she was lying and they’ve taken no action which is another part of my complaint. I’m also disagreeing the closure date and their failure to create an overpayment even with the date they have closed the case from. mum also didn’t provide them with the documents they requested ie; letter from sons school to say he was attending yet after admitting she was lying has opened a new claim still without those supporting documents which I now have to pay, again another part of my complaint. Their response basically says they’ve done everything correct... wondered if I need to use ICE first or if tribunal will accept my case to appeal those specific decisions? Any advice will be appreciated ??

i have been through the cms complaints procedure and am not satisfied with their response and I’m now unsure whether I need to ask the independent case examiner to look at it or go straight to tribunal. My complaint involves them forcing me to pay cm whilst child and mum were habitually living abroad even after I provided the sufficient evidence, they were happy that when mum rang them she confirmed an English address through security and that was sufficient for them. Mum has now admitted to them she was lying and they’ve taken no action which is another part of my complaint. I’m also disagreeing the closure date and their failure to create an overpayment even with the date they have closed the case from. mum also didn’t provide them with the documents they requested ie; letter from sons school to say he was attending yet after admitting she was lying has opened a new claim still without those supporting documents which I now have to pay, again another part of my complaint. Their response basically says they’ve done everything correct... wondered if I need to use ICE first or if tribunal will accept my case to appeal those specific decisions? Any advice will be appreciated ??