Ex still claiming he lives with other child

[CoolRoseLemur]

My ex moved in with a woman with 2 children, he instantly called cms to have his rates reduced. He only lived there for 2 months and I tried to report they’d split up as soon as I heard but for 5 months he’s gotten away with paying the reduced maintenance rate. I called this morning to see why my reports of his where abouts keep getting rejected instantly and they’ve now put it through. I’ve asked if I’d be back dated and they said only from this phone call onwards. I don’t know if I’m being unreasonable but I don’t understand how it’s up to me to declare his marital status, address or whatever in order to receive the correct amount of money. He’s always been sneaky and has a huge amount owed. Should I write a formal letter? Or is it a loose end? Thank you in advance

Worth a try with a letter if you have evidence/details of precious calls/emails about this.

You raise the good point that it should not be your responsibility to record his status or have to jump through hoops to obtain CM payments. It should be the non-resident parent's responsibility to declare this in the same way it is a driver's responsibility to tax their vehicle or declare it as SORN. The difference is that there are penalties for drivers who dont do the right thing, but very few consequences (legal, financial or social) for the person avoiding doing the right thing over child maintenance. The consequences all befall the person raising the child(ren) with insufficient funds and on the children themselves.

Until the law changes and absent/non-resident parents are legally obliged to be the person declaring it, many men will continue to avoid paying what they should.

If everyone on mumsnet who is affected by this contacted The Ministers for Women/Children and families, perhaps a law change could occur, but posting on mumsnet alone will bring out many more examples of injustice without making a blind bit of difference.

Details of the ministers if anyone wants to fill their inbox with links to this, and the very many other similar threads.

https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/minister-for-women-and-equalities--3

https://www.gov.uk/government/people/janet-daby