The Child Maintenance System Is Failing Families, And It Needs Reform Now
- Deanna Newell
- Mar 7
- 4 min read
I’m an autistic parent.
That means that I notice patterns. I analyse systems. And when something doesn’t make sense, it nags at me until I understand why.
Right now, one system keeps standing out for all the wrong reasons: the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).
It was designed with a simple purpose: to ensure that children are financially supported after parents separate. Simple in theory. Fair in principle.
But the reality looks very different.
When the System Gets It Wrong, Parents Pay
One of the most frustrating parts of the CMS is how quickly administrative mistakes spiral.
A payment is misrecorded.
A calculation is incorrect.
A reassessment takes months.
Suddenly, a parent who has been paying regularly receives a letter saying they owe thousands in arrears.
Then comes the “solution”: being pushed onto the Collect and Pay system, which adds extra fees on top.
In other words, the system creates the problem and then punishes the parent for it.
As an autistic person, systems matter to me. Structure matters. Fairness matters.
When rules are inconsistent, confusing, or poorly enforced, the result is chaos. And chaos always hits families hardest.
The Loopholes That No One Wants to Talk About
At the same time, there are glaring loopholes. Many self-employed parents and company directors are assessed purely on taxable income reported to HMRC.
That might mean declaring income close to the personal allowance - £12,570 a year, or roughly £1,041 a month.
Maintenance under this calculation can look like this:
Two children → around £38 a week
Three children → around £46 a week
Let’s be honest: no child can be properly supported on that.
Behind the scenes, a business might be turning over £100,000 a year, with tens of thousands in retained profit. Yet the maintenance calculation may still be based on that £12,570 figure.
The result? Some parents are stretched to the limit trying to meet assessments that don’t reflect their real circumstances, while others are able to legally reduce their contribution.
Neither situation is fair. And the children pay the price.
The Evidence Speaks
The numbers are stark.
According to Save the Children, almost half of all children in single-parent families live in poverty, compared with one in four children in two-parent households.
Gingerbread’s “Fix the CMS” report adds more: over 50% of parents not receiving their entitled maintenance struggle to pay essential bills, and nearly half cannot afford basic necessities for their children, like clothes, shoes, and school uniforms.
If we are serious about tackling child poverty, fundamental reform of the CMS must be central to the strategy. Anything less is putting children second.
The Hidden Struggle of Blended Families
The CMS challenges are even more complicated for blended families.
When two households merge, children from previous relationships become step-siblings. Often, one household receives a substantial child maintenance payment, while the other bears the minimum or struggles with irregular support.
Parents in these households are trying to provide for more children under one roof, sometimes with little support from the other parent. This stretches already tight budgets and creates inequities that the system was never designed to handle.
Even when parents are working hard and following the rules, the CMS doesn’t always account for the real costs of raising children in complex family structures.
Post-Separation Financial Abuse
The CMS also intersects with another serious problem: post-separation financial abuse.
Gingerbread reports that 45% of people experiencing post-separation financial abuse say it gets worse when the CMS is involved.
The system, intended to support children, can exacerbate the abuse survivors already face. This isn’t just about money—it’s about safety, stability, and dignity for both parents and children.
Recognising Parents Who Do the Right Thing
We also need to recognise the parents who do everything right.
Parents paying via PAYE, meeting or exceeding their maintenance obligations, often go without for the sake of their children, while loopholes allow others to contribute far less than they should.
These responsible parents, dads and mums alike are the unsung heroes of the system, yet they are often punished by administrative errors, delays, and unfair fees.
Many face impossible choices: feed their child or pay arrears they didn’t create. The system is pushing those doing the right thing toward breaking point.
The Questions the Government Needs to Answer
Progress on the Government’s child poverty strategy is slow, and the CMS is often left out of the conversation. Some urgent questions remain:
Will the Government review the CMS funding formula to ensure it truly reflects the real cost of raising a child?
Will it amend service charges, including the 4% fee for receiving parents using Collect and Pay?
Will the CMS be reformed to better support survivors of domestic abuse, especially those facing post-separation financial abuse?
Will the Government close loopholes that allow income to be artificially lowered, ensuring parents are assessed on their true financial resources?
Will the CMS strengthen investigation powers and reduce delays when hidden income is reported?
Will a minimum child maintenance level of £300 per child be introduced, so no child grows up in hardship due to accounting technicalities, tax loopholes, or income structuring by sole traders and small business owners, regardless of how their business is managed?
Children should never be forced to bear the consequences of a broken system.
Children Cannot Wait
The system was created to support children, not to protect bureaucracy or allow tax loopholes. Yet too often, the children are the ones who suffer most, caught in financial chaos, resentment, and uncertainty.
If the Government truly cares about child poverty, fairness, and protecting vulnerable families, CMS reform cannot be optional. It must be central to the strategy, with:
Accurate reflection of parental income
Reduction or removal of punitive service fees
Support for survivors of domestic abuse
Timely and transparent corrections for administrative errors
Because right now, too many families are fighting the very system that was meant to help them.
Your Voice Matters
If you’ve experienced problems with the Child Maintenance Service, whether paying or receiving maintenance, speak about it.
Broken systems rarely fix themselves. They change when enough people refuse to stay silent.
Fairness should not depend on who shouts the loudest. It should be built into the system itself, and it should protect the children first.
Deanna Newell Family Law
Advocacy for truth-tellers, survivors, and the children who deserve better
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