Parents pushed to breaking point by Child Maintenance Service, BBC told

Parents who rely on the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to secure financial support for their children after separation or divorce have shared distressing accounts with BBC Panorama about the system pushing them to their limits. Mothers reported ongoing struggles to compel ex-partners to fulfill their payment obligations, while fathers expressed frustration and stress caused by administrative errors within the CMS. One mother described turning to food banks due to nearly £10,000 in arrears left unpaid by her ex-partner, and another said she had to skip meals following the cessation of payments by her abusive former partner. Additionally, a father spoke of the emotional toll resulting from years of disputes with the CMS, including a case where an unrelated child was wrongly added to his account.

The CMS, operated by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), manages cases involving over 800,000 families and more than one million children in England, Scotland, and Wales, with Northern Ireland running a separate service. It is responsible for enforcing child maintenance payments for children under 16, or under 20 if they remain in approved education or training. When parents cannot agree on payments, the CMS steps in to calculate amounts owed using a formula based primarily on the paying parent’s income, ensuring that children’s essential expenses such as food, clothing, and bills are met. Despite these provisions, some families have reported severe difficulties. For example, Katy, whose ex-partner owes her more than £330 a month but has accumulated almost £10,000 in arrears, told Panorama she has had to rely on food banks and deny her children opportunities for social activities due to financial strain.

The demand on the CMS has surged, with a 300,000 increase in cases over the past five years. However, challenges persist, including complaints and the complexities of enforcement. The service can deduct payments directly from wages, benefits, or bank accounts through its Collect and Pay scheme, which handles approximately 350,000 cases. This method incurs additional charges—20% fees on the paying parent and 4% for the receiving parent. Despite these mechanisms, between January and March 2026, around 61,000 Collect and Pay cases saw no payments at all, impacting 86,000 children. When arrears occur, the CMS can seek liability orders from the courts to recover debts, but delays and procedural obstacles, such as difficulties confirming paying parents’ addresses, often stall progress.

Parents have voiced profound dissatisfaction about how effectively the CMS enforces maintenance. Katy’s case exemplifies the frustrations faced by many. After the CMS delayed court action for months and then lost track of her ex-partner’s address, her case was effectively frozen, leaving her in debt and uncertain she will ever receive the money owed. Another mother, Susan, whose abusive ex has not paid maintenance regularly for five years and owes over £10,000, described the CMS’s enforcement as a “waste of everybody’s time” and “an embarrassment,” noting that the service lacked warrant officers to pursue non-compliant payers. Fathers also face difficulties; Gerry described being pushed to the brink after the CMS mistakenly added a third child to his account and later drastically increased his monthly payment to nearly £1,000, triggering severe anxiety and panic attacks. These personal stories have drawn parliamentary attention, with one MP calling Gerry’s experience “atrocious.”

The CMS acknowledges some of these issues, apologizing for delays and errors, and offering consolatory payments in certain cases. The service’s director, Simon Hunter, expressed confidence that many customers are “highly satisfied” and highlighted efforts to modernize and improve case processing. Despite this, critics argue that enforcement is often inconsistent, penalizing the wrong people and failing to address genuine avoidance of payments, as noted in a 2025 House of Lords report on reforming the CMS. The government plans to transition all parents to the Collect and Pay system and reduce related fees in an effort to enhance compliance and outcomes for children. Hunter emphasized the necessity of addressing administrative mistakes and welcomed opportunities to improve the service but acknowledged the ongoing challenges faced by some families. The personal toll on parents and children when the system fails remains significant, with one father summing it up: “It can’t go on… It’s too many lives being broken.

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