To think that men who evade paying for their children are a burden on society?

I would get behind a campaign. My ex-H hasn’t paid a penny in nearly 5 years. Claims to the CMS he isn’t working. He is but he’s self-employed and I don’t what bank account he uses for his wages, not the 2 I knew about when we married as he uses those to show ‘no earnings’.

CMS are useless and the burden is on me to prove he’s earning.

I would love to hear Starmer taking action on this. There should also be no discount for subsequent of step children and there should be a public information campaign to focus men’s minds on the risks they take whenever they don’t wear a condom.

I'm afraid I have to disagree.

The affect on the child doesn't depend on the sex of the non-paying parent.

Yes, in the vast majority of cases the problem is the man, but by having a gendered solution only targeting men would allow the few feckless mums to get away with it.

All non-paying parents need to be targeted.

I disagree. I do think it's a vote winner - especially for a party who has a larger female voter base than the Tories.

If it was a true vote winner then it would have been jumped on by a party imo.

The last really big change was when people on benefits were only allowed to keep £20 a week of maintenance and the rest was owed to the Sec of state to go toward the welfare bill. The amount owed got so high it was declared something must be done. Off all the options, all the potential hard line endorsements, they chose... let the RP keep the money. (Let them keep the money we know doesn't get paid....).

Not a single government since has tackled it.

And having worked for CMS briefly there is zero push on people to pay. I was told off for being "too aggressive" for refusing a man who hadn't paid for 4 years an extension. Not because of my tone or manner with him, or for not following the rules, but just that no extensions is aggressive.

In training two of the powers they have (without going to court) my trainer had never heard of. I had because of my ex's games over paying. They're so infrequently used staff didn't know they existed.

Until society changes there's no reason for politician to push it. Everyone gets angry with their ex if they don't pay, but on a societal level very few people take issue with their son, partner, brother or friend not paying. The "she just uses it for hair/nails/night out" trope is used as an excuse and men get away with it.

And it is mostly men. In two 3 month spells working for CMS I can count the number of women non payers that came across my desk on my fingers. This is a male issue.

Added in to that as it stands "paying parents" can pay you £1000 a month and you get to keep it in some areas it's counted towards your council tax but not all areas do that because again they don't pay regularly

David Cameron tried on this, actually:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/jun/19/runaway-dads-drink-drivers-cameron

It turned into a manosphere binfire with awful stuff about women who “force” men out of their lives and “use” them for babies. Complete with handmaid female columnists saying the same. It was quietly dropped.

Currently the burden of proof is on the resident parent (almost always the woman). When our CMS claim started my ex who owns his own large company just instantly stopped paying himself properly. He paid min wage to ensure that was all that CMS payment were based on. Despite the history of far higher income and a company making huge profit and paying other staff very well. CMS weren't interested at all, and said I had to prove he was getting income elsewhere.

It took a few years to get anywhere near a sensible payment, and that was only by going to tribunal. Despite all the lies there was no punishment. So there is absolutely no incentive for NRPs to be honest.

There are lots of websites and social media dedicated to helping men reduce/stop their CMS payments. So many loopholes.

It’s mostly men though. I would be staggered if it is less than 95% of the problem.

if we went after the low hanging fruit, fixed the 95%, then it will be much easier to go after the second category.

edited to add, if we get distracted with the 5% we won’t fix the main issue

The whole reason they had to unlink it from benefits (because it used to be deducted) is because "parents" (mostly men if we are honest) pissed around with the child support not paying paying late paying too little quitting work

maybe they should have made the DWP responsible for collection and it can be deducted so the men are paying the government back for money they are paying so for example I get £1000 for my benefits he is supposed to pay £30 a month he pays to them not me I still get my £1000 a month and the government get £30 towards it from him when I go back to work and no longer require benefits the money gets transferred to me directly as soon as he messes about they start taking it off him again plus back pay Plus interest

I disagree. I do think it's a vote winner - especially for a party who has a larger female voter base than the Tories.

I think there should be a low minimum payment that should be due to the resident parent regardless of income of non resident parent. E.g. £100 per month for first child and £50 per month for any other children. This amount will accrue over time and there should be consequences as with any other debt if there is non payment.

If non resident parent doesn't feel they are even in a position to pay e.g. they have a permanent disability then they need to apply to have the debt set aside.

As much as I think it sounds like a great idea, we are talking about people happy to dump on society and don't give a shit about anyone else but themselves.

All you'd end up doing with this one, is having a bunch of people driving around the roads without a licence and therefore insurance. And that then would be passed on to good citizens the second they had an accident in their nice shiny BMW.

It would be better to revoke a passport - or to link up with HMRC. People who love their lifestyle more than their children will value their holidays and there'd be nothing better than trying to get on a plane and having the social embarrassment of being refused because your passport has been voided due to none payment. Or to find your tax code has been changed or you owe the tax man for none payment of maintenance.

Honestly I think it's a big vote winner for Labour.

CMS actually have loads of powers.

There is just no political will for them use them.

There needs to be a societal change so that forces a political change. If society turned on non payers then government of the day would push CMS to do more.

It's not a vote winner though so it'll never be a priority.

It's from age three

As someone who used to work on a helpline dealing with this issue daily. It’s a 95-99% male issue. I’d like to see the CMS given actual power. £400 in 18 years is what my son (not me) got from the man that fathered him.

I know.....what a weird post.

Over 40% of marriages break down.

I would say think very carefully before having a child with someone may go a long way to help it, less of this 'my clock is ticking let's get on with it' or 'I wanna baby now i don't care how I do it'

I think that’s the best idea. Government sets a minimum a genuine minimum and pays it, the NRP gets it clawed back out of their wages/benefits/inheritance/their estate upon death till it’s paid off.

So even if he suddenly becomes a sahd to a new rich wife it’s tough he still owes a minimum every month, leaves the county oh well it will still be sat linked to your NI number waiting.

I'm always agast at the fact men just upsticks and walk away from any responsibility of the children they helped to create.

Time and time again there are threads on here where the man announces one day that he's leaving (with zero expectations of taking the kids).

And I'd put money on it being 99% men / 1% women who do this.

How does that work when the commitment can just as easily break down and, if anything, the co-parenting relationship can be more acrimonious because of it? No one can be forced to stay together.

It's a very nice BMW that gives him meaning in life and gives great hugs.