Am I being unreasonable to think that nothing has changed since the Mumsnet 2020 survey?
Data released today from Mumsnet and Gingerbread show stark findings on CMSPOSTED 17 SEPTEMBER 2020
Findings of a new survey released today by Mumsnet and Gingerbread on the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) show:
86% say the CMS has allowed their ex to financially control or abuse them post-separation
Nine out of ten parents think those who avoid paying child maintenance should face confiscation of passports or driving licenses
34% of CMS users say they receive no child maintenance at all, and just 16% say they receive the full amount due every month
According to the survey, 93% of parents believe that parents who regularly avoid paying child maintenance should face more serious penalties, such as confiscation of passports and driving licences, or lump sum deductions (a single payment directly from the non-resident parent’s bank account, ordered by the Child Maintenance Service).
86% say the CMS has allowed their ex to financially control or abuse them post-separation, and 83% say they will likely never receive what they are owed in arrears. Just 11% of these parents described their experience of using the CMS as ‘positive’; 73% described it as ‘negative’, and 72% say using the Child Maintenance Service has made their mental health and wellbeing worse.
A huge 96% of parents surveyed said non-payment of child maintenance should be taken more seriously by the government, and 94% believe it would be taken more seriously if the money was owed to the government itself rather than to children. Nine in ten (89%) think it’s too easy for parents to evade paying child maintenance.
Gingerbread and Mumsnet are working with the Good Law Project to campaign for much more effective enforcement action from the Child Maintenance Service. The campaign to #FixtheCMS is supporting four women who have issued a Letter Before Claim to notify the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of their intention to seek Judicial Review due to the failure by the CMS to collect child maintenance payments from their children’s non-resident parent, leaving them and their children in financial difficulty and, in some cases, in poverty.
The survey of 1,357 parents in England lays bare widespread disquiet at the seeming impunity with which non-resident parents can evade paying child maintenance.
Among single parents (ie those not living with an adult partner) who have used the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), just 16% say they receive the full amount of child maintenance due every month, and over one-third (34%) say they receive no child maintenance at all. 68% say the amounts of maintenance they receive via the CMS are unpredictable and irregular – making it incredibly difficult for these families to manage their spending effectively.
Among those who have used the CMS and don’t regularly receive full child maintenance payments, the median amount they are owed is £4,000, and the mean (including some who say they are owed five- or six-figure sums) is £9,355. 79% of this group say the CMS has refused to take any meaningful enforcement action.
For these parents, missing payments have had a significant impact on their children’s lives and wellbeing:
87% say their child has had fewer holidays
85% say they have had to spend less on Christmas and birthday presents for their child
83% say they have had to spend less on clothes for their child
79% say their child has missed out on sports or music lessons, or other hobbies and activities
73% say they have to spend less on food.