Child Maintenance Service. Is it fit for purpose ?

shawgawby

I worry for the health of my son, who has been battling with the CMS since October 2025 regarding the payments they are taking for his two sons, even though he has a court order for 50-50 care. He has had many conversations with CMS, and they tell him it will get sorted, but then they go back on there word. He has had contact with his MP but no progress made there only they are looking in to it.

I see an article in national newspaper reveiling a father took his own life due to CMS issues.

The article goes on to say there are issues with the system as hundreds of thousands of men in similar position, and that it could become the next post office scandal.

gmstah

I'm sorry your son's stuck in this. I was assessed at over £700 a month while parenting my kids half the time, so I know the shape of it, and I know how it wears people down.

The bit nobody explains: a court order for 50/50 doesn't stop the CMS on its own. The rule that would (Regulation 50 of the 2012 calculation regs) says a parent isn't the paying parent if they provide day-to-day care to an equal extent. But the parent who gets Child Benefit is assumed to do more of it unless there's evidence otherwise. The order shows what was agreed. The CMS then wants to know who actually does the school runs, the GP, the dentist, the uniform, the clubs. That's the gap most parents fall into, and it's the gap MPs were raising in the Commons in April.

What moved things for me was doing it in writing. A mandatory reconsideration first, then a tribunal appeal if that's refused (deadlines are on each letter). Attach a plain dated record of ordinary weeks, not a description of the arrangement, and get the school and GP to confirm he's a named contact. Calls got me nowhere; letters did.

None of this promises a result. It's just the route, and it's a lot easier to walk with a record in your hand than without one.

Jon — built a 200+ file Reg 50 evidence bundle as a parent, now building Evincio.