Child maintenance moving to collect and pay, but arrears building up

[NeatTurtle]

When child maintenance swap from direct pay to collect and pay on request of receiving parent. Does the paying parent have to pay directly to receiving parent until that's set up?
Paying parent has been told not to pay anything directly and is now in arrears

I'm currently going through this. My ex partner didnt pay during the changeover (or before it to be fair) but now the change has happened he is paying his arrears off also. I'm sure a decent parent would just pay as normal until its set up, but I presume that isnt the case, or there would be no reason to change to collect and pay.

Unfortunately its a horrible situation.
Paying parent has paid without fail for 8 years. Cms have said 3 times now that he shouldnt pay directly. (He has put the money aside that should be paid during the switch)

Apparently Paying directly during the switch wouldn't be on system as the payments can only be logged by the collect and pay system once that has been requested.

Just to add. This is only being switched as paying parent was a day late one month for payment.

There is also ongoing conflict in regards to contact being stopped for no reason.

Hi are you the paying parent?

from my experience as receiving parent you can only report missed payments after several days of non payment (I think it’s at least 5 from memory) which then triggers collect and pay, you can’t do it for a day late the system doesn’t allow it. The cms then review and decide if it’s appropriate.

Edit to add my ex h told me he wasn’t paying I had to wait until several days had passed to report it to cms, as even after 2 days late and being told he wouldn’t pay it was still too early ‘just in case’ 🙄 I think there is more to this than payment being a day late.

I agree with pp a decent parent would make payments any way regardless of cms advice.

As the other posted said, payments can only be reported for being late if they dont arrive in the bank following 3 working days, so the other parent couldn't have reported it (the button isnt there, it cant be done) unless it was 3 working days and the payment still hadnt arrived, or if the payment that arrived within 3 working days wasnt the full amount.

Could the parent put the money aside then and pay off as arrears when collect and pay is finalised? CMS can be quite hard work so to be honest I'm not surprised if they're unable to pay while the change is going through!

Also, seeing/not seeing the children has nothing to do with CMS, my ex still has to pay despite not seeing our child (his choice) Can the parent suggest mediation, much cheaper, dont need legal representation but helps to get something set that can be signed by a solicitor?

I know when my friend took her childs other parent to cms, there was almost 2 months when he was told not to pay and sent her a copy of the letter but I think the overall total is worked out in remaining months

The recieving parent called cms and asked for the change. Paying parents submitted all bank statements showing payments being made every month for the right amount.

Completely understand that contact and money are two separate things and paying parent would never not want to provide regardless.

The swap to collect and pay only came into play after an enforcement of the arrangements order was made.