CMS - ExH has appealed, advice needed

[RockinTheLockdown]

ExH earns £1500/week. CMS have recently reassessed his earnings and have almost doubled the monthly maintenance amount he's to pay. As he has omitted to tell the CMS about his increased earnings, they have backdated the assessment so he has arrears to pay as well as the new monthly amount.

He's absolutely livid and has appealed their decision, as well as not paying the increased amount at the start of this month.

Can anyone tell me what the appeal process is like and how long it normally takes? Also, on what grounds is he likely to succeed with his appeal?

I don't think anyone can give you an answer as it's all dependent on circumstances - eg. how much he's paying, what expenses he has, what grounds he's appealing on, whether he has other DC to support etc etc.

An ex of mine paid CMS and I know they had to leave him a certain amount each week/month to live on - so they looked through his finances and figured out what he could afford after bills. They had to leave him enough to feed himself, for example, and debts were also taken into account.

Hopefully they'll tell him to get a grip and pay what he owes

I've spoken to CMS today who advised that the appeal process can take 12 months to complete.

I was concerned that he'd be able to stop paying while the process was ongoing but they've said that the appeal is entirely separate from the CMS existing case, and he should continue to pay child support as instructed by them during this time. Failure to do so will result in arrestment of earnings etc.