CMS: Am I able to switch to Direct Pay?

[MarieGx]

Hi!

Posting for my husband.

He’s been paying his ex partner via the CMS Collect & Pay for the last couple of years, always on time with each payment.

However, Collect & Pay takes an extra 20% for themselves on top of the amount he has to pay, which adds up to a lot over the years.

Since he hasn’t missed any payments or made any late payments in years, would the CMS agree to put him on Direct Pay if he calls and asks?

If so, does anyone know how this works? Would he still be giving CMS the money and they’d be sending it on to his ex? Or would she have to agree to it as well and then give us her bank details directly? Or?

Any help would be appreciated 😊

His ex would have to agree to it. There must have been a valid reason for putting him on Collect and Pay. Direct Pay is the default payment method and Collect and Pay is actually quite hard for a receiving parent to request. I'm assuming at some point in the past he wasn't paying properly which is why he was put on C&P. You say your husband pays on time but he has no decision in that. It's by direct debit to the CMS or deduction of earnings from his employer or benefit. That's the point of Collect and Pay, it stops the NRP being able to pay late or miss payments. Although I believe some NRPs have still been able to get around this.
If he was put on Direct Pay then he would pay the money directly to his ex, not through the CMS. CMS issue a payment schedule and assume the NRP pays it. The onus is then on the RP to flag up if payments are missed or late and it's then a fight to recover any unpaid money. If I were his ex I would not be agreeing to it, unless things were very amicable between them.

Your husband is able to request for it to change to direct pay via the cams website and they take into account whether he has been consistent with payments for 6 months via collect and pay.