New Child Maintenance Service implemented

The new Child Maintenance Service has now begun to replace the Child Support Agency, which is being phased out by the government over the next three years.

The service sees the introduction of a new payment system, ‘Direct Pay’, a voluntary arrangement which allows parents to deal with each other without government involvement. If they fail to agree, they have the option of involving the CMS.

However, cases which do involve the CMS attract enforcement charges which will see the paying parent needing to find an additional 20% of maintenance, while the parent with care of the children will be charged 4% to receive the maintenance amount.

Steve Webb, Child Maintenance Minister said the new system “encourages parents to work together in the interests of their children” and that it “gets more money to more children”.

However, the Gingerbread Charity, which supports single parents, has criticised the scheme, saying that the additional charges would take money from children, who were effectively being punished for their parents not paying maintenance.  The Charity also fears the number of separated families claiming maintenance would fall due to the new charges. Currently, only around 52% of those eligible for some kind of child maintenance actually claim it.

If you’d like to speak to a solicitor about divorce, children and financial arrangements please contact Sarah Townsend at Lawson-West on 0116 212 1080.

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