Single parents owed huge sum in unpaid child maintenance

Does your ex owe money in child maintenance? Unfortunately, a new report from the National Audit Office shows that this isn't all that unusual. Altogether, the amount of outstanding child maintenance comes to a whopping £4 billion. To make matters worse, three quarters of that amount is uncollectable according to the Department for Work and Pensions, so at least £3 billion may never end up being paid at all.

This amount has built up over a number of years, mostly under The Child Support Agency (CSA), which was originally set up in 1993 and then replaced with the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) in 2012.

After a split, both parents are expected to support their children financially. If the kids are under the age of 16, or under the age of 20 and still in full-time education at A-level stage or below, or if they are under the age of 20 and living with a parent who’s receiving child benefit, then they should be getting child maintenance. If the parents can’t decide how much child maintenance should be paid, the task falls to the Child Maintenance Service instead.

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The single parent charity Gingerbread is calling for the Government to compensate people who have missed out on years’ worth of payments that should have gone towards the upbringing of their children. The charity has also said that the CMS don’t use their powers often enough when it comes to making sure non-resident parents pay up. Unpaid child maintenance can be collected by the Child Maintenance Service by taking money straight out of the parent’s wages, benefits or bank account.

There’s more than one way to arrange how your child maintenance will be paid. If possible, you can just arrange the payments between yourself and your ex, without the need to involve anyone else. Or the Child Maintenance Service can calculate how much child maintenance should be paid, but you and your ex can work out how you’ll actually receive the money.

In some cases, it’s necessary for the CMS to calculate the amount that should be paid and collect it from the absent parent as well. It’s also possible to have a court ordered arrangement. These are normally used in rarer circumstances, for instance if the paying parent lives abroad or if they have a very high level of income.

If you’ve just arranged child maintenance between yourself and your ex, the CMS aren’t able to try and get any money back that you’re owed, but you can ask them to step in and manage the situation from now on. As it stands, you’re allowed to apply for compensation if you’ve lost out financially because of a mistake by the CMS or the CSA, but they’ll look at each case individually and you won’t be automatically entitled to compensation.

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Relationship breakdown is a common trigger for debt problem, and non-payment of child maintenance that is due can make a bad situation worse. If you are struggling with problem debt, for whatever reason, the best advice is to seek advice early. There’s plenty of support available.

Debt Advisory Centre: 0161 871 4881