Think ex is lying to child maintenance service

[Tigerlily15]

Hi everyone, this is my 1st post.
My ex and I have been separated for nearly 8 years, our son is turning 8 soon. Our son never stays overnight with his Dad and sees him less than twice a month for a few hours.
Child maintenance service calculated for tax year 2021/2022 that ex earned £90.78 gross income per week which was below the £100 threshold. He was told to pay only £30 per month. He said he would continue to pay £60 a month as the previous year.
In 2022 he got a new job. He told me he was earning roughly about £500 per week. He says he is on £10 per hour. His work day usually starts at midnight and he won't finish til 2/3pm or even later.
He regularly tells me he has been working "crazy" and uses this as an excuse to ignore our son.
Few weeks ago I contacted CMS as his income has raised more than 25%. They haven't responded to this yet.
But today they gave me my annual recalculation. It states that me ex earns £90.78 per week for tax year 2022/2023. This is exactly that same as previous year when he was working a completely different job. I find this to be suspicious as I've never received the same exact weekly income in 2 different jobs in different tax years.
If this was his true income, that would mean he is working less than 1 shift per week, as 1 shift would roughly be £120.
He is not salaried and picks his own hours. He says he's technically self employed as he sends an invoice to his boss every week where they work out his wages and he gets paid on a Friday.
I'm just wondering if there is anything I can do, it seems that he is clearly lying to CMS. I don't have any solid proof of his income, other than what he has told me. I'm assuming the income checks that CMS do are not very stringent?
Does anybody have any advice? Thank you for reading 💗

[BringBackTeletext]

Same issue here. My kids dad earns £7 a year self employed 🎻 But privately rents a three bed house and is currently on holiday for the third time this year 😂 CMS are useless I’m afraid…

[Tigerlily15]

I'm sorry, that's disgusting. How can parents sleep at night knowing they're not helping pay to raise their own children. Absolute madness 🙄

[taxpayer1]

They are probably using the previous year's income as 2022/2023 P60 may not be available yet. It will be ready for everyone on the 31st of May.

[Tigerlily15]

@taxpayer1

They are probably using the previous year's income as 2022/2023 P60 may not be available yet. It will be ready for everyone on the 31st of May.

Thank you, that makes sense. I hadn't realised that 🙈

[caringcarer]

@BringBackTeletext

Same issue here. My kids dad earns £7 a year self employed 🎻 But privately rents a three bed house and is currently on holiday for the third time this year 😂 CMS are useless I’m afraid…

It is a lot of years ago now but my exh tried to pull this trick and CMS got him on income declared inconsistent with outgoings. We had to attend a meeting and he had to produce his bank statements and tenancy agreement. His rent alone was more than he declared to earn. He was ordered to pay a lot more.

[Whereisthelove2]

@caringcarer Did you have to take him to court for this?

[Lovely1975]

My other half’s ex lies about him paying her directly - indeed he has been overpaying by £150 a month but she has advised the CMS he hasn’t paid at all…

Both arguments are valid and both equally disgusting!

[Jouleigh]

I've been there and my 'child' is now nearly 30 years old.
I had a letter from CMS about 8/9 years ago saying that I was still owed money and there were looking in to it. They would be 'in touch' in a few years
Obviously they haven't been in touch and it was at the same time the CMS changed their name and records weren't carried over...

[JustUmberMember]

Hi,
I have gone through CMS and my ex is stating that he has our little boy 50/50.
He actually has him 5 nights out of 14, and I have him the other 9.
I also stated an extra 10 nights to CMS to cover any additional nights at Xmas or holidays.
CMS have told me that I need a court order as evidence to prove the overnight stays!!
This works out that I would actually have to pay my ex not the other way round.
I tried providing evidence from school which they have dismissed, has anyone had any experience of an ex lying about overnight stays?
im pulling my hair out looking for this extra money for a court order when I don’t get the maintenance I should be getting

[Luckycloverz]

@JustUmberMember

Hi,
I have gone through CMS and my ex is stating that he has our little boy 50/50.
He actually has him 5 nights out of 14, and I have him the other 9.
I also stated an extra 10 nights to CMS to cover any additional nights at Xmas or holidays.
CMS have told me that I need a court order as evidence to prove the overnight stays!!
This works out that I would actually have to pay my ex not the other way round.
I tried providing evidence from school which they have dismissed, has anyone had any experience of an ex lying about overnight stays?
im pulling my hair out looking for this extra money for a court order when I don’t get the maintenance I should be getting

I knew someone who's ex tried saying he picked their child up 4 nights a week even gave false times dates etc, the mum installed a camera doorbell to her flat that recorded constantly and showed evidence that he had never attended at the times he was claiming or on the dates, it worked for her and thankfully she now gets a lot more money just on this proof.