Child Maintenance enforcement - what is realistic?

[innistree]

This is genuinely about a friend.

A friend has recently discovered that there is an open CMS claim against him and that arrears have built up for child maintenance relating to his biological child. For reasons I won't go into in detail, this was not something he was aware of previously, and there is no moral failing on his side. He spent much of the last decade outside the UK, and when he was here his address changed frequently, so correspondence did not reach him.

He is currently not in paid employment and has a number of physical and mental health conditions which make work difficult or unlikely. CMS appear to have applied the default rate of £38 per week during all previous years, without his knowledge, and ridiculous £££ arrears have accumulated as a result.

He has now received a letter threatening enforcement action, including possible driving licence disqualification and the use of bailiffs.

I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has experience of this from the receiving or paying side. I have a lot of sympathy for those affected by non-payment, and I'm absolutely not looking to argue the principle, but I'm trying to understand what enforcement action is realistically taken in practice and over what sort of timescale.

No consideration of the resulting child, I see. Par for the course.

Huge moral failing to deliberately create children who won't know their father.

Even more of a failing to do so when you have multiple mental and physical health problems.

Are you saying he was a sperm donor?

No. I am not even his gender of preference.

Don't be so daft. Many people use sperm donors, and indeed some use donated eggs. It is not a moral failing.

Considering what's best for a child is only "daft" for a certain type of person. I'm not one of them.

I'm not disputing the legal obligation. I'm just trying to avoid the assumption that this is a case of intentional non-payment or a deadbeat dad. If he is required to pay, he will have to do so, end of the story. My question is about what enforcement actually looks like and on what timescale.

I admire your moral purity.

It's basic decency, not purity.

Seen your updates - he was an idiot to do this as favour without legally protecting himself (which he probably understands now) but he is still a father and he has to pay. Provide proof of addresses and income and the CMS will recalculate and that may or may not be lower than the weekly amount used across the whole period. So it's pay or pay for him I'm afraid but he could end up with a lower debt. He can't avoid it and morally shouldn't but perhaps he could now be a parent and get involved with his child.
Regardless, this is a warning to engage from CMS and they will instruct debt collection if he ignores it - which will not help his predicament.

How long the CMS will allow this to drag on is not quantifiable as it depends on workload, staffing etc. Unfortunately a time scale can't be provided but once instructed, debt companies will make contact in under 2 weeks on government contracts like this

Of course your friend needs to engage with CMS, and pronto. He needs to ask for a paternity test and provide information about his employment history since the child's birth. And then breathe - no one's going to throw him in prison, take away his driving licence etc. Well they may if he's in the USA but not here, UK.

And then he needs to think things through.

Does your friend have any correspondence with the mother re any arrangments for the sperm donation ? Any agreement on contact with the child, financial, did the mother pay him for the donation. Did she inform him that a pregnancy resulted in the donation, the child was born, do the dates work out. He needs to build up a history, a timeline. Does he want to build a relationship with the child - I'm not saying 'pay to view', just if he is the father, does he want to have a father role

Yes, the paternity is not in dispute here, and there is some "paperwork" in form of emails back and forth. Thanks - all very good points to go through.

He needs to speak to CMS. He'll have to provide evidence of his income (or proof of not having any) to allow a recalculation of the arrears and work out the actual amount owed.

If they're at the point of sending letters about enforcement action then there is likely a case worker dealing with it who is on the ball. Cases have to be opened by the RP so they may be pushing as well.

They can go to court to remove his driving license and also other powers like putting a charge on a home or sending bailiffs to remove goods for sale to cover amounts so he shouldn't ignore it. It's rare, but a lot depends on who is dealing with the case - when I worked there I took a lot more measures than some colleagues who didn't see the issue with folks not paying.

Informal agreements won't matter with CMS btw.

Unless there is a legal court approved document that means he isn't liable for maintenance then he will be liable.

"She said I didn't have to pay" is often used but it means nothing legally.

Even if it's what they informally agreed at the time the mother has obviously changed her mind when she opened the CMS case.

Two weeks 😬thanks!
Yes, he is fully aware that he was an idiot now.

“No moral failing” - had baby through whatever channel, unconventional/unoffial or otherwise then left the country for a decade and paid nothing 🙄

Now being asked to pay and main concern is not supporting his child but to avoid bailiffs and driving restrictions 🙄

The cms are atrocious - ask any mother trying to chase thousands of pounds of arrears what the cms will do. A big fat ZERO - all your friend has to do is ignore them or call them and offer a few quid that will be paid the following week (but won’t be) and the cms will leave it. They will threaten to seize his vehicle (but won’t) or visit his home (they won’t do that either). If he is on benefits they may well take money directly from those. But statistically, they will do literally Jack shit.

That is if there are debt collectors - where I am the cms told me last June they had no debt collectors as the council (or government, I forget) hadn’t renewed the contract so until October there would be no debt collectors working for the cms.

If he is being asked to contribute,surely he would be within his rights to also request contact. Wonder how that will go down?

Maintenance and contact are very different things. One does not entitle you to the other.

If they're at the point of sending letters about enforcement action then there is likely a case worker dealing with it who is on the ball.

In any other job, 10 years of non-payment wouldn’t qualify as on the ball 👀

The child is now a young adult living some distance from all parties involved, so the issue is likely no longer relevant. The original agreement was for no contact and no involvement or decision-making power over the child's life.

I hope the adult child is OK