Apologies if this is not in the right place.
I have had 18 months of frustration with the Child Maintenance Service as well as frustration with finding help without emptying my bank account.
The majority of single parents are women, some say this is because courts give women custody, I think because women are more willing to step up to the mark and take responsibility for our child and everything that entails including the financial cost. The current CMS system in place will force you to fight for financial support if the Non Resident Parent is intent on shirking their financial responsibility.
I just wanted to part my knowledge in the hope it would help other single parents out there... male or female but the sad fact is that the majority of resident parents are women so this is most definitely a woman's issue.
The folks at CMS work within the constraints of a system and even if blatantly obvious to us mere mortals it is unfair they are unable to do anything differently. They are also not very helpful at telling you what you need to do to progress something.
A place to get advice - Google NACSA (www.nacsa.co.uk). It cost me £30 to get advice from this organisation for 1 month over the phone. Much cheaper than a solicitor.They also do one to one consultations.
MANDATORY RECONSIDERATION and APPEALING
CM Payments are typically based on historical earnings from the previous tax year. Thus if the Non Resident Parent moves from being on benefits to actually working for a company the CMS will not update their payments until the annual review picks up the HRMC tax year with these wages in. Thus you will have to wait at least 12 months but possible up to 2 years before your payments increase from £7 a week. Yes it is unfair but unless your ex willingly tells CMS his income has increased or you can find out where they are working no one has to do anything. Sucks I know.
BUT YOU CAN DO SOMETHING. Tell CMS your ex is now working (as soon as you know) and you believe his income will have increased sufficiently for them to raise a "Change of Income". If you have no proof and your ex gives them no information it will be rejected. If they reject the Change of Income ask for a mandatory reconsideration. When the mandatory reconsideration is rejected you will receive a letter that will allow you to appeal to an independent tribunal.
I know this sounds like a long process but at a tribunal you can put forward evidence that can be taken into account by a person not a computer. I.e. my payments were based on my ex earning £10 a week. This would not cover renting a flat, paying bills, holidays, maintaining a car, and he had confirmed to CMS that he was working but provided not details. 12 Months down the line CMS have actually given me some more evidence - His earnings for the previous tax year.
I have 3 independent tribunals in the pipeline:
2 for change of income
1 for effective date of payments
Maybe if enough of us make Mandatory Reconsideration requests and Appeals they might actually fix the system! - I'm ever hopeful
I have heard that CMS may move to the Universal Credit system which would make more sense but I would wait on this as the Government agencies tend to work at a snails pace.
Good luck and I hope that if you are reading this you are not in dire financial straights. I come across lots of mum's who seems to be having problems with CMS but many have neither the financial means or energy to tackle the system understandably. Big hugs to all the single parents (mums and dads) out there trying to get by.
CMS payments 12% of Gross Income for one child, 16% for more - it's not a drop in the ocean and a resident typically parent has to dig a hell of a lot deeper.