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?

men

I've always been expected to work without a driving license. Why shouldn't men?

I have neighbours in my street who work for CMS. Thanks for enlightening me on the challenging workload they have each week.

My brother and SIL both think working cash in hand is acceptable as "why should we pay tax when immigrants/single parents/whoever we hate this week doesn't?"
I did point out that SIL might change her mind if they ever very divorced, but apparently the will never happen. His first wife said that too!

Exactly.

Bit difficult if your job is van driver or bus driver, for example. And not being able to prove ID as there's no valid licence or passport makes it much, much harder to get a job (cuts out a lot of roles that would be served by public transport, such as NHS, Education, Local Authorities and the like - the DBS checks are far more difficult when there isn't either of those documents (and many employers including those, will say 'sorry, no, not without passport and driving licence').

There is a lot that that is wrong with the USA, but as a practicing attorney in one of the states in the western USA, I will say I really appreciate the child support recovery options available. I regularly take parents who are behind on child support to court for my clients. I always ask for the possibility of jail and driver’s license suspension. I’ve never not been able to recover at least 50% of the back due child support immediately and full recovery on a tight payment schedule. The behind parents have also always been ordered to pay my fees. It is because the court is very willing to impose harsh sentences. Not because I’m some great attorney.

If their job involves driving then maybe something else needs to happen.

I've managed to open a new bank account, get 3 DBS checks and a job without a driving licence or passport. All within the last 2 years. So it is possible.

If the job centre don't see any of this as a valid reason why I can't get a job, then it's not a valid reason for my ex either.

This!

I’m on my 3rd UC review of the last year or so. I wish DWP paid as much attention to how my ex-h has apparently earned £0 for the last 11 years despite multiple holidays, a several brand new cars and a new house. And judging by how much weight he has put on, his food bill must be huge.

I personally wouldn’t mind UC being reduced to reflect maintenance IF it was guaranteed. But DWP know it isn’t - hence why it doesn’t affect benefits and kids don’t starve.

A better approach would for the state to pay single mothers a set and realistic amount each month (instead of the ridiculously low amounts my friends ex’s pay) and then make it a debt for the ‘fathers’ to pay off however long it takes…

Of course men could avoid all the stress of losing their precious ID by just paying in the first place!

I am not a legal mind, however I have never quite understood how there is not a discrimination case to be at least heard around the combined actions of CMS and the benefits system pursuing single mothers. Maybe someone can explain?

I know not every single parent engaging with CMS is a single mother, but surely the statistics must be quite stark? How can childcare not be taken into account when it will likely adversely affect job progression and future income for those women?

Similarly, what statistics are there around women on benefits (who need to pay childcare) being pushed to find mythical term time, school hour jobs when they are owed thousands in back child care support?

It’s disgraceful. We really need to try and do more for the next generation. Unfortunately I’ll never get the £10,000s owed to my children. I hope our daughters have a better future system than this!

Do you know how many father's are being forced to pay hugely over inflated, inaccurate amounts for their children and the CMS refuses to acknowledge their appeals even though they are completely wrong? The father is then accused of breaking the law even though the CMS is in the wrong and keep adding to the arrears with no end in sight. The CMS also put people onto direct pay and add a further 20% to their pockets but provide no reason or evidence to support their reason as to why that parent is on direct pay. They also simply refuse to remove said parent from direct pay even though they havent missed a payment in years...
Trust me, its not just the receiving parent that they are screwing over in order to gain revenue.
The whole CMS needs to be under independent investigation as it clearly does not work!

It would be good if someone high up at CMS services did an AMA. Or mumsnet arranged a Q and A session with one of them.
So many questions need to be answered about this appalling service.

I tried looking for stats on what percentage of cms claimants are sole mothers (I don’t like the term single mum as it refers to our relationship status and not the fact that we’re raising children by ourselves), and I couldn’t find them. I’m guessing this is because they would show the deep rooted misogyny surrounding child care and maintenance money in this country. No-one cares unless it affects them directly.

There’s so many CMS loopholes for men to avoid financial responsibility for their children. My ex managed it. Here’s just one example, he got a large redundancy payout last year, lives with his parents who pay all bills for him, and the redundancy money isn’t classed as income by cms. So my children’s cms payments were slashed as he chose to live it up for over six months with his redundancy money instead of getting a new job straight away. There’s no consequences for these men. The laws are interpreted by cms in the men’s favour and not the child’s.

I like the idea of the government paying a basic (and more reasonable because at the moment it’s a pittance) maintenance payment to the sole parent, before they chase the other for the debt. They’d take it a lot more seriously if he owed the government money and not his ex who he’s trying to pretend doesn’t exist.

These men should have their passports removed so they can’t go on holidays abroad (which my ex has done many times), they should be shunned socially by friends/family (which never happens), and they should have their assets seized, their credit scores impacted plus go to prison for non repayment of the debt.

It's one of the biggest remaining examples of institutional misogyny.

My heart bleeds for the poor fathers

The women voting YABU are probably the same ones who complain that the pittance their partner pays for his own children is too much. There's a bizarre perception in our society that once a man splits up with his children's mother, he stops being their father and becomes a sort of uncle.

Id love to see some real, unbiased stats to show how many men are "overpaying" vs how many are underpaying/not paying at all.

Worth noting that the CMS amounts are the minimum you have to pay. You are allowed to pay more.

Its discrimination on an instituational scale - the service should be taken to the international court of human rights for its state sanctioned financial abuse of women and children.

Do you? It sounds like you do. Interested in the statistics on this.

And don’t forget he now becomes the father to his new girlfriend’s children.

I’ve never understood how a man’s CMS payment can be reduced by the fact his current live in girlfriend has kids (not his) even if she also gets CMS from her kids’ father.

Quite frankly I couldn't give less of a fuck that a few fathers may be 'overpaying' (likely still not anywhere near the cost of raising a child.

Every single time someone on MN talks about an issue that mainly effects women, someone always comes along with their "what about the menz" nonsense.

If its that much of a concern then start a thread about the poor fellas having to contribute more than they would like towards their kids.

Men just have no shame, do they?

Imagine not paying for your own flesh and blood to have the best life they can.

Take away the non-payers’ passports and driver licences and make them wear a cone of shame.

I particularly find only the taxable income part a total joke.