To let you all know that the Child Maintenance Service..

[Rippeditoff]

have used their full powers (passport removal, driving licence suspension): 10 times since 2019

3 immediate passport confiscations
7 immediate driving disqualifications in Great Britain (July 2019 – March 2025) / CMS published data

And that the total unpaid debt is 756.6 million pounds as of 2025

Would I also be unreasonable to say this is a national disgrace to single parents and their children which we should all be raising with our MPs?

It’s a complete piss take

Yes it's totally unacceptable that they don't do anything about self employed absent parents who choose not to pay - it's 2026 for god's sake, there are lots of things they could do.

They talk a big game about their “full enforcement powers” yet have no will to
undertake them as the stats above prove

Yes, I do - but since the tine that CM payments didn’t reduce the benefits paid to the resident parent, most people lost interest. Unless they were affected of course. 🤷‍♀️

Yep! 33 years after they were established they still can't make self employed parents pay up. Fucking useless good for nothings.

The CMS is only effective if you, the claimant, are able to fulfil the following requirements:

1. Your former partner must be in full-time employment and PAYE. Otherwise, fuck off.
2. You must know his full name, exact address and how long he has lived there. Otherwise, fuck off.
3. You must know his NI number, payroll number and be able to give the exact name and address of his current employer. Otherwise … you catch my drift.
4. You must know his passport number and driving license number …
5. You must provide all this data yourself, without breaching GDPR …

And then you should just basically fuck off anyway because, you know, they’re very busy people.

I’m surprised they’ve used their full powers that number of times tbh
I am however not remotely surprised that the amount of unpaid debt is that high.
the CMS is beneath contempt

Useless

Heaven forbid that single parents don't struggle financially eh.

What does it say about men in general as well, that so many can’t be bothered to pay for their own children. How utterly depressing.

Single parents - usually mothers - get trash talked and discriminated against for a deadbeat parent/father's selfishness/complete lack of care. The patriarchy does this. Society allows this.

The lack of interest in CMS/CSA not using their powers is actually why it stopped counting toward benefits.

At the point that change was made RP's on benefits only got to keep £20 a week because the rest was owed to the Sec of State to go toward the benefits bill. The amount owed by non-paying NRP's got so high it was decided that something must be done.

So the politicians decided that RP's could keep the money they knew mostly wasn't being paid and not count it toward benefits.

If there was any actual interest in NRP's paying that would not have been the outcome chosen.

Fucking pathetic.

It’s an absolute joke and even if they do pay it’s nowhere near half the cost of raising a child.

I remember once seeing an MP saying they had powers to remove various things like this. I thought really that’s odd because I’ve seen countless stories online of parents not getting their money… and nothing happening. Well this confirms it!

Also the staff there are working with one hand tied behind their back. There's not enough of them and they are poorly trained.

When I worked there briefly I asked at the end of my training if you got extra training on the bigger powers or if it was dealt with by a more specialist team. The trainer asked what I meant and I said things like putting a charge on a house or the powers along those lines and the trainer didn't even know that could be done (I only knew because my ex was a non payer.

I also got told off for being "too aggressive" with one NRP. Now it was clarified that my manner with him was perfectly acceptable and my route was completely following guidance - there was no disciplinary issue whatsoever. However, refusing a second month's grace to a man who hadn't paid a penny for four years (and who had changed jobs and moved to avoid paying numerous times) was seen as being "too aggressive" and I was told to be calmer with my approach.

Who is voting YABU?

Regardless of what you think about your ex, the kids are owed that money.

I remember once seeing an MP saying they had powers to remove various things like this. I thought really that’s odd because I’ve seen countless stories online of parents not getting their money… and nothing happening. Well this confirms it!

They actually have a huge array of powers.

Including taking money from a bank account with no warning or court order, but they never use it.

They can put a charge on a house and loads of other things.

There's just no political will (or societal will really) for child maintenance to be a important so the powers are never used

We’ve had MPs on here doing MN Webchats including government ministers saying that Something Will Be Done.

Nothing is ever done.

They're quick enough to spy on bank accounts of single mothers claiming universal credit though.

9% think it’s reasonable? Why???

… the total unpaid debt is 756.6 million pounds as of 2025

What time period, how many years does this relate to?

Whats the median sum owed?

How much per child?

So many questions… It is extraordinary that this situation has been allowed to arise, with nothing being done about it.

Absolutely! Especially since childcare costs are not taken into consideration at all and we all know nursery fees are prohibitively expensive, especially if you are footing the bill on one salary. It's just a joke.

The system is not fit for purpose, but the powers that be won't do anything to sort it out because half of them are probably financially screwing their children over too.

They have asked my exes payroll dept to take money off his wages, they haven't, so I called and asked what the next step was and the CMS person said they called exes work a couple of times and they didn't answer, so they would just keep trying every so often. That's it, the whole solution.

YANBU. There should be a system in place where if someone is paying minimal maintenance then the DWP need to be hassling them to work more hours so they can support their children adequately. If they can hassle people to pay their tax return and impose the relevant fines then they can insist on this too. The system is pathetic. The last lady I spoke to on the phone on CMS was sympathetic to me to be fair to her but she couldn’t do anything about the fact my ex hasn’t paid anything since last May.

It's institutionalised misogyny. There is no will in the CMS to get reluctant contributors to pay up. So the single mothers and their children go without,while the non paying fathers get to hold on to their money. Meanwhile, in British society, single mothers are figures of contempt but very little is ever said or expected of absent fathers.