When Things Go Wrong with Child Maintenance
The Child Maintenance Service handles thousands of cases, and mistakes do happen. Payments might arrive late, calculations can contain errors, and communication sometimes falls short of what parents expect.
Both receiving and paying parents can find themselves dealing with problems. A receiving parent might wait longer than expected for payments to come through, while a paying parent may feel the assessment does not reflect their actual circumstances. Whatever the issue, there are several steps parents can consider to address problems.
Raising Your Concerns Directly
If something has gone wrong with your case, start by contacting the Child Maintenance Service directly. You can do this by phone or in writing. Many parents prefer to put complaints in writing because it creates a record you can refer back to later.
When you contact them, explain the problem clearly and include your case reference number. Be specific about what has gone wrong and what outcome you want. If you send a letter or email, keep a copy for your own records.
The person handling your initial contact will often try to resolve the matter straight away. Simple issues like updating contact details or correcting obvious errors may be sorted at this stage, though resolution times can vary depending on the specifics of your case.
Answer a few questions about your situation and get a clear summary of your child maintenance rights and options.
Try our Child Support Rights Checker free, here on this site →Escalating Through the Complaints Process
If the initial response does not resolve your problem, you can ask for your complaint to be looked at by a senior complaints handler. The Child Maintenance Service has a formal complaints procedure with different stages.
At each stage, someone more senior will review what has happened. You should receive a written response explaining what they found and what action, if any, they will take. Keep copies of all correspondence throughout this process.
The timeframes for responses can vary depending on how complex your case is. If you do not hear back within a reasonable period, follow up with a phone call or letter asking for an update.
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
Taking Your Complaint Further
If you have completed the internal complaints process and remain dissatisfied, further options include contacting the Independent Case Examiner, who reviews complaints about several government bodies including the Child Maintenance Service.
The Independent Case Examiner will only consider your case once you have completed the internal complaints process. They look at whether the service has treated you fairly and followed correct procedures.
Your Member of Parliament can also make enquiries on your behalf, though their ability to influence outcomes will vary. You can find contact details for your local MP on the UK Parliament website.
In some situations, you may be able to challenge a maintenance calculation through a formal appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal. This is a separate process from making a complaint about service quality. Appeals must usually be made within one month of receiving a decision you disagree with, though extensions may be granted in certain circumstances.
Keeping Good Records
Throughout any dispute with the Child Maintenance Service, keeping organised records will help your case. This includes:
- Copies of all letters and emails sent and received
- Notes of phone calls, including dates, times and the names of staff you spoke with
- Bank statements showing payment dates and amounts
- Any documents supporting your position
Good records make it easier to demonstrate what has gone wrong and when. They also help if your complaint moves to an external body like the Independent Case Examiner.
For current information about the complaints process and your rights, visit the Child Maintenance Service section on GOV.UK, where you can find guidance on making complaints and details of the formal appeals process.
The situation you're facing with the CMS, especially with your son living with you, sounds deeply unfair and there may well be grounds to challenge it properly. Citizens Advice can help you navigate a mandatory reconsideration and tribunal at no cost, and Gingerbread also runs a helpline specifically for parents dealing with child maintenance issues. A welfare rights adviser could look at the figures alongside HMRC's records to see where things have gone wrong.
Please make that call to Samaritans first. Your life matters far more than any of this paperwork.
After taking 6.5k(LSDO) I got ICE involved and after 4 years got money back and compensation. They bullied and harassed me at every turn and the mistakes in their calculations etc etc cost the taxpayer over 40k to sort.
If anyone out there needs advice get in touch and I will do my best to point you in the right direction.
One thing you musky do is give up or give in .
As with the Postmasters, there are many of us who have been treated disgracefully by them, and Politicians should order an inquiry into the practices of the CSA.
What happens between parents and their children should remain in the hands of legal advisors and the courts and not in the hands of incompetent grade 1 clerks.
I’ve seen recently in the news that the government plan to “crack down on dead beat dads”. I feel there are a lot of dads who try to do the best they can for their kids, however the system seems to let them down. I feel as though something needs to change.
It not just child maintenance that is messed up. Cafcass and the family courts are incompetent. I left my abuser and have been made to suffer his continue abuse for a further 7 years by the courts. Apparently full time mothers and abuse are irrelevant to a childs welfare so they gave him sole custody. After taking 5 years of full time work to pay of the financial abuse and start saving for a home. I was exhausted, no life at all, threats from my ex and a system that tells me off for even breathing. I paid my abuser child maintenance all that time. Even though his parents are paying for everything she wants and he pockets the money for himself. He managed to cause me to loss my job, I admit the complex post traumatic stress disorder caused by all this hell and his years of abuse didn't help much. I lost my job, child maintenance stopped. I decided to go back to university and since I started there they keep saying I need to pay over £340 per month to my abuser. I've not got an income at all, I'm a full time student. I have no home, I have no income, my brain doesn't function right anymore. There is no point to being alive. My course finishes in September, I was starting to think about what I would do then, but there is no point. He bullied his way to having the house and all the finances, I didn't get a single penny. Going back to uni was kind of my attempt to get a break from hell, it hasn't worked. The abuse doesn't end and child maintenance help reward highly abusive people who are wrongly in charge of our lives. The cafcass officer refused to look at evidence and court paperwork before writing her report. They don't care about children. My daughter screamed and clung to me when he got sole custody, because he had all the money and house. She screamed and was traumatised and they just say it is a normal reaction. The whole system is evil. I've told child maintenance to put me in jail for life. I tried my best and the authorities told me off - it is selfish for a woman to leave an abusive man. I should of stayed with my abuser and died. It would have been fair kinda than this horrid sentence they gave me. I wish he had killed me the day he assaulted me with his car. I want to go to prison or be executed for my crime of leaving an abusive man.
Assessment started September 2016.
I stopped working in October 2017 due to a bad injury. I informed them of nil income as per their A5 booklet.
According to them I owed nothing 2 1/2 years ago.
Then 2 years ago (April 2021) I went back to work and a month later 8 letters in the door on one day. Out of the blue they want £26000.00. No explanation, no how, no where from? Apparently I was earning £800.00 per week while off injured. Have asked for their evidence. Nothing sent.
No answers depite promises of looking into it from a case worker and her supervisor. Never heard from those 2 women again.
I was even threatened by another woman.
My son is now 21. Assessment ended 3 years ago. They also didn't confirm he was still in school.
His mother refused to adhere to multiple court orders over multiple years so haven't seen him for around 6 years.
Child maintenance doesn't care about fathers not seeing their children. They are only interested in earning money from collecting and distributing.
Last phone call to them was July 2022 and lost count how many times before to sort.
Put so much info on their useless portal it became full. Nothing was actioned.
No call backs actioned from their portal despite multiple complaints and requests.
Asked for a calculation breakdown over 2 years ago. Nothing yet.
Now when you call you get Triage snowflakes instead of useless case workers.
But apparently I have a tone when I spoke to them.
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