Nearly 40% of parents who use the CMS service for child maintenance receive no payments

[cakeorwine]

And just 40% of absent parents made 90% or more of what they were supposed to pay?

www.theguardian.com/money/2022/aug/07/more-than-a-third-of-parents-fail-to-contribute-towards-child-maintenance-payments

Data from the Collect and Pay service - apparently only 164,500 NRPs use the scheme which does not seem a high percentage of the total NRPs who should be making a contribution.

This is only going to get worse with the cost of living crisis - as people's belts tighten. If the Government did care about child poverty and the lives and wellbeing of (overwhelmingly) female parents who look after them, they would do something,

"A DWP spokesperson said: “Child maintenance is an essential source of income for many lone-parent families, helping to lift 140,000 children out of poverty on average each year. Through continuous enhancements to its processes and powers, the Child Maintenance Service got a record £1bn to children of separated parents last year.
“Child maintenance is calculated so it is reasonable and affordable, according to a paying parent’s income, with the very lowest earners protected by a flat rate of £7 per week.
“Giving children the best start in life is the service’s priority, so parents who can afford to pay more must pay at a rate that reflects what they earn.”

Lots of AIBUs from this:

AIBU to think this is going to get much worse?
AIBU to think that Tory candidates (and the Opposition) should be talking about this?
AIBU to think this does show the Tory attitudes towards single parents - they are obsessed with reducing taxes for married couples as a stable family is "the best outcome for a child" - but when it comes to families who separate, they don't care too much for the child?

It’s not surprising. When it comes to a lot of totally absent parents I think your probably overestimating the amount of steady income they actually have and secondly assuming they live a remotely stable life or have steady employment or even a stable mental state.

Unfortunate truth is a lot of men who don’t pay support don’t have money and/or unstable people in general. I don’t think much can really be done about it.

I don’t think you can blame this on “Tories” . The CMS (which was the CSA) was in existence throughout labours time in power. The issue of non-payment/giving up jobs to avoid payment/cash in hand so you can say you don’t earn anything is not a new problem.

People generally go through the CMS because people can’t agree/aren’t paying maintenance. So you already have the more “difficult” parents who are more likely to avoid.

in America there are much more draconian sanctions if you don’t pay (you can’t get a passport, benefits and prison time), but I don’t think that would be popular in this country.

I am not sure what the remedy is but it’s really hard if people don’t want to pay money to get it out of them.

@LillyDeValley

Even in America there are loads who don’t pay though. Some just don’t have money, aren’t employed or are criminals themselves.

What can you really do?

in America there are much more draconian sanctions if you don’t pay (you can’t get a passport, benefits and prison time), but I don’t think that would be popular in this country

Given what the current candidates are saying, that would seem popular

It should show on your credit rating if you don't pay. I agree with the above that some (not the full 40% though surely?!) lead chaotic lives and would be unable to pay, bit there needs to be some consequences- many could pay but would just rather not 😡

The 40% refers to the people 'using' the CMS collect and pay system - so a specific population

I don't know the stats for absent parents who don't use the CMS system and have their own arrangements

@napody

Wouldnt surprise me if it was close to the full 40%. Lots of men out there leading weird and chaotic lives with no or very interrupted employment, many mental and addiction issues and also criminality in the mix.

Lots of these types of men who think nothing of having children they rarely see. It’s always been this way and in my opinion always will. There will always be a large subset of men like this.

Sad thing is of the fathers who are paying there are probably a high amount who actually want to see far more of their kids and may well have done nothing wrong in the marriage or wanted it to end, yet you have all these morons running around whose insane behaviour either caused the end of their relationships (or they just walked out) who don’t want to see their kids and also don’t pay any support.

There’s still $115 billion owed in unpaid child support, and only 43% of custodial parents get what they’re actually owed.

The USA has the same issues, even with more sanctions.

@whumpthereitis not saying American system good at all. It was just more to the question what else do you do? I can’t see there being any appetite in this country for similar sanctions.

@ulteriorbread totally agree with this. I always think the scariest comments are when people say “we aren’t ready for marriage, but are having a child”. To be honest marriage, no kids, is fairly easy to get out of (and there are very clear legal mechanisms to do so).

I was agreeing with you. It seems that even with harsher sanction you still have essentially the same results. There’s no magic bullet to the situation.

In my country, the RP can ask for the state to front the child maintenance payment. So the RP will receive a minimum maintenance sum (about 130 pounds per month for one child), and then the state will claim back the money from the NRP later. So in that what the child at least gets some money.

Anyone in arrears for more then 28 days gets a prison sentence which increases according to how much they owe. They would soon pay it off

and also deducted at source

my eldest’s father earned over a million last year never paid a penny as he deliberately went to an area in the world with no agreement

@Hopeandlove

How on earth would they pay it off? They certainly wouldn’t pay it off after getting out of prison and not being able to get a job. Many of these men have little to no money and no steady employment.
Many others are petty criminals.

Been using collect and pay for a decade and got nothing for years, he is thousands in arrears. Now I get a few pound a week (I think £7) as he gave up his job so they could not get the arrears

In my country, the RP can ask for the state to front the child maintenance payment. So the RP will receive a minimum maintenance sum (about 130 pounds per month for one child), and then the state will claim back the money from the NRP later. So in that what the child at least gets some money.

This is how it should work .

Many of these men have little to no money and no steady employment.

Bollocks.

My ex gets paid largely cash in hand. He has a huge fancy car, far nicer and newer than mine. And has just paid for a big loft conversion to his house. He refuses to pay me then takes the kids to Disney. CMS don't care.

It's a way of continuing the financial abuse after I left him.

That's why it's a percentage of income. Even NRP's on benefits only have to pay a sum (few quid a week). This is about people not even paying that. Somehow I doubt they're all living on the streets .

There was a thread on this recently. Self employed and Ltd companies are a major flaw in the system (of many).

plus thr useless service from CMS - you cannot get through, have a different (often hopeless) member of staff each time, etc.

it seems to work okay if thr NRP is PAYE and nothing remotely complex about their finances. But for those who want to dodge th system, they can.

my (abusive) EXH has an income of well over £100,000 a year plus assets of around £2million. Max pension contributions of £40,000 each year. I asked CMS to reassess the few £ per month they say he should pay. Six months on, we are getting nowhere and you cannot get through by phone. God knows how I am going to manage the school uniforms this summer.

I don’t get any payments at all for four kids, haven’t in 5 years, cms won’t do anything people seem shocked that I don’t get anything they don’t understand not everyone gets maintenance

Be very careful who you have a child with and protect yourself by not always dismissing marriage

Are you saying you don't think there are loads of men out there who could pay but don't? I know of plenty and there are already several mentioned on this thread.

The fact that some can't pay is no reason just to write it off! If a single mother can't support her kids she goes into debt and that debt stays with her. The father is just as responsible for that child and if he doesn't pay it should go on his credit record as an unpaid debt.

I’ve always said that an absent parent who deliberately goes out of their way to avoid paying child maintenance should have a criminal conviction of child neglect. If a RP decided they didn’t wanna pay to feed or clothe the kids living with them then they would get done for child neglect, so why not the NRP?? 🤷‍♀️

@Sellie555 i agree, although the court system would probably collapse under the strain! If we are talking about gimmicks like £10 fines to motivate people not to miss NHS appointments, then we should definitely be talking about NRPs failing to keep their children clothes and fed. I also agree with stopping them renewing car tax, stopping them renewing passports, etc if they don’t have a track record of meeting regular payments.

@HeartofTeFiti agree! But those penalties are so so rarely used, it’s a joke