No Child Support For Half Of Children In Separated Families

• Published date: 17 August 2022
• Subject Matter: Family and Matrimonial, Family Law
• Law Firm: Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors
• Author: Ms Emma Perkins

HALF OF CHILDREN IN SEPARATED FAMILIES RECEIVING NO CHILD SUPPORT

The child support system has had a troubled history, now covering some thirty years.

In that time the system has had three incarnations: the original 1993 scheme, the 2003 scheme and the current, 2012, scheme.

The first two schemes were the subject of huge criticism, primarily for their failures to recover billions of pounds of child support from non-resident parents.

Until now the current scheme, which encourages parents to make their own child support arrangements, has avoided much of that criticism.

But that may now change, following a recent report by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee.

CMS "achieving no more" than CSA

The child support system was originally run by the Child Support Agency ('CSA'). But in 2012 the CSA was abolished, and replaced by the Child Maintenance Service ('CMS').

At the same time billions of pounds of unpaid child maintenance debt remaining from the CSA schemes was written off, and a new child support scheme was introduced, which aimed to reduce reliance on the state, by encouraging parents to make their own family-based arrangements.

Only where the parents cannot agree their arrangements will the CMS get involved, either under its 'Direct Pay' service, whereby the CMS makes the initial maintenance calculation and then the maintenance is paid directly between parents, or under its 'Collect and Pay' service, whereby the CMS charges to collect maintenance from the paying parent, and pays it to the receiving parent.

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has recently carried out an investigation to ascertain how well the new scheme is working. It has found that the CMS "is achieving no more for children of separated families" than the discredited CSA that it replaced.

The Committee found that around half of children in separated families - that's 1.8 million children - continue to receive no support from their non-resident parent, and enforcement can be too slow to be effective.

Unpaid maintenance owed to parents on Collect and Pay has increased by more than '1 million a week, to a total of '440 million in October 2021, and the National Audit Office recently concluded that unless more is written off, outstanding arrears will grow to '1 billion by March 2031 and "indefinitely thereafter".

The Committee says that the 2012 reforms were based on the assumption that most parents can come to agreement on child maintenance between themselves, but the...