Child maintenance

[ColourfulOrangex]

My sons dad currently owes over £2000 in arrears and should be paying £200 a month

Due to the arrears and the fact he still refuses to pay there has been a deduction from earnings in place for 3 months now, yet I have still not received a penny (it has been a collect and pay case from the beginning)

Am I being unreasonable in wondering what they are doing? I understand they obviously cannot pass any money on that they don't receive but shouldn't they be chasing it more than this??

I rung them today and they just said they will contact the employer, this is all fine except this is what they have done for the past few months and nothing has come of it...not really sure why I'm posting just venting I suppose but has anyone had any success with CMS with deduction from earnings?

How come Broken is getting it in the neck?! She says her DP is paying for his DC!

@BrokenHollandaise so fucking what if his ex earns more than him? What has that got to do with your DP's responsibility to provide the most basic level of support to his children? His payments to them sound nominal, by the way, and nowhere near half the cost of keeping a child alive.

@ThePinkOcelot because she is being a knobhead.

Because it is galling to see someone complaining about having to make such a small contribution. Some NRPs seem to consider maintenance as an optional extra only if it is financially comfortable for them. Do you think a resident parent could say I've only got x amount to live on this week so I won't feed my kids?

Amen to these previous posters. It’s absolutely infuriating how my DD’s dad proudly says he’s paying his liability for her and working out exactly how much £5pw is as a monthly payment whilst turning up for rare visits in a serious of flash cars and tweeting about his constant stream of Apple gadgets. Even if he wasn’t a lying evil sociopath, I’d never dream of limiting my children to a percentage of my income - “Sorry DD you’ve had your allowance of shoes for this year, mummy needs her roots doing so see ya.”

Broken why is he earning only 70 a month or even a week, I earn that a day on next to minimum wage..there is always some excuse with these so called men.
Not seen a penny for my ds since July, not even bothered with cms as he's not working so what's the point?
Meanwhile I was working 2 jobs at one point with no offer to pick up from school or have ds in holidays to save my childcare bill whilst he sits on his lazy arse expecting me to do everything including drop offs and pick ups.
Guess I just have to suck it up..

I think they said he was on a zero hours contract?

70 a month is pitiful.

The reason I asked you about overnights, broken is this.
Either 1) your poor prince of a DP has fought really hard against his evil ex wife for the regular, stable contact his DC needs, and the court have chosen not to grant him overnights. Given they granted my ex who strangled me and threatened to kill me overnights, I think you can guess what type of man it would suggest your DP to be if the risk was so high that he wasn’t supplied with overnights.

OR (what i suspect is more likely)
2) poor, poor little prince of a DP is barred from seeing dC by evil ex who insists on stupid things like ‘regular’ and ‘consistent’ and your DP, the heroic knight that he is, swoops in to take DC out ‘when he can’.

That’s just a handy excuse my love for the fact that he cba to parent.

The thing is, if you are happy enough to stay with someone like that with this morale compass, go right ahead, but for the love of god, don’t have kids with him, because you mark my words - you’ll be the ‘evil ex’ witholding contact before you can blink.

‘When he can’. Jesus wept.

A dad who can only pay £11 pwk has no option but to do better for his child. Children know when one parent doesn't step up even if the NRP and their DP make excuses.

My ex is unemployed now. I get nothing.

Just wow at the comment from Yellow. The service is a paid for service and it is £20 paid for by the resident parent. Also if you are on collect and pay, which is rare, you take a further reduction for admin costs.

The only exception is where there has been violence and in my case I did not ask to be excluded from payment but when asked I admitted that the police had installed panic alarm in my home. I therefore was exempt. The tax payer funds a huge number of services and for most children, this is the very last resort because the much vaunted new CMS is very poor indeed. But it is all we have.

Stats wise, the CMS admit on FOI act response, that there are actually 23% of supposed service users who have just given up.

The rules have changed to basically tighten up paperwork eg only a 25% increase or decrease in salary can be looked at until a 12 month period if up thus saving on investigatory work.

My gs's dad rang them in November saying he had had a significant decrease in salary (he pays £40 per week). They asked him to send inhis wage slips but he refused and put the phone down. He now is contracting earning £££ but they have still failed to check his wage slips on an upturn.

Yet although he has his ds eow, he fails to stay overnight leaving him at his parents home or returning him. The rules now state that if that is what the court order says, then that is what happens. CMS say you must go back to court. Most reasonable resident parents don't want to do this.

What I am saying is that I am firmly held to the rules whilst he is not. He should, according to their paperwork, be in line for a £1000 for failing twice to produce wage slips.

Keep on at them op. Make a complaint. That usually kick starts a response of some form. Good luck.

A £1000 fine, should say.

Thank you @ElsieMc I will get back on them today and make a complaint if need be, it's been going on for 4 years now and just becoming a bit of a joke that he won't support his son (DS is 7, separates when he was a baby) but has gone on to have 3 more children by 3 separate women who he also refuses to pay for, stop having children when you don't want to support them

We are in and out of court constantly recently as if he doesn't get his own way he takes me back - I'm not in breach of the order or anything just ridiculous that the courts entertain this.

Not sure if I added I paid the set up fee and also pay costs every month as it is also a collect and pay case

In the 70% what is the split that they are taking for a current payment and what is for arrears? That's the only time they take more than normal.

And usually taking a higher % has the NRP calling and setting up a better payment plan.

They are no better now than CSA was when I was kid.

BrokenHollaindaise - he patently is not working all the time - so he could see his child more.

And with all due respect - my 17 yr old niece who is a full time A level student, is earning more than your DP. she works one evening in the week and one day at the weekend.

Zero hours contract is a poor excuse for the pittance he earns and what he pays. Whilst I understand if he does not have it, he can not pay it - but someone is paying to feed his child and support his lifestyle.

He's updated his details now so no payments until March

Apparently they can't do anything, wish they were tougher on the NRP

It is ridiculous isn't it. I got my 'welcome pack' today and it said the fees are there because the government want parents to sort out maintenance between themselves. I wouldn't be going to the bloody Cms if he wasn't refusing to pay! It also says one of the actions they can take is prison, yeh right never heard someone going to prison for not paying maintenance.

Exactly, I think they should start removing possessions and a prison sentence, maybe the parents would start paying then

Exactly, I think they should start removing possessions and a prison sentence, maybe the parents would start paying then

CMS (and CSA before them) have a huge list of powers they can use against and NRP. They can access bank or post office accounts and remove money, they can remove driving licenses, put charges on houses etc.

There's just no big push for them to do so because it's socially acceptable (imo) to dodge paying maintenance. Until it's seen as the neglect that it actually is those powers just go to waste, and dodgers don't have to worry because they know they won't be used.

The comment about not having kids you can't afford is low. The family probably earnt more as a family and had to pay for one home. The RP then gets top up benefits so the kids won't starve.

Women often don't let men have kids overnight.

@sixteenapples you're right the children won't starve but the NRP should still contribute if they can - my son goes overnight although I know some don't for whatever reason

@lalalalyra I wish they would do some of those things, people refuse to pay because they know there are ways to get around it and that there won't be consequences other than arrears

I'd love CMS to act more hardline on non-payment like they do in the US. It is surely the most incompetent government service ever?

'women often don't let men have kids more often' - I know, single Mums love to have no social life and look after their kids 100% of the time. Honestly these dead beat dads are banging a path to our door desperate to spend more time with their kids!! They actually can't do enough!!