Gingerbread have published a new report on the impact of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) on separated families.
Single parents – both those paying and receiving maintenance – have told them that the way the CMS works can contribute to worsening relationships between separated parents.
Gingerbread have said that reforming the CMS must be a central part of their plans.
Their research shows that the current system is “failing”. The report revealed that:
- 41% of separated families have no maintenance arrangement in place at all
- 52% of parents with care who are not getting the maintenance they are entitled to are struggling to pay essential bills
- 49% of parents with care who are not getting the maintenance they are entitled to are not able to buy clothes, shoes or school uniform for their children
- 61% of parents with care said the CMS were reluctant to use enforcement powers
- 45% of parents with care who have experienced domestic abuse said that involvement of the CMS had led to an increase in abusive behaviour.
Their report also shows that parents want, as a priority:
- Dedicated named caseworkers. This would mean that parents don’t have to keep retelling their story, and ensure issues are understood and followed up
- A means to contact the service digitally. This could reduce the stress of long waiting times on the phone and increase confidence that the right things were being communicated both ways
- Actions to step up on enforcement, to better assess income and to close loopholes that allow non-resident parents to avoid payments
- A transformation in training for CMS staff in domestic abuse and for the service to become trauma-informed.
Gingerbread head of policy and campaigns Sarah Lambert said:
“These steps could improve the experience of using the service, and increase the numbers of children receiving the maintenance that they need. We also believe that there is scope for additional reform of both the CMS and the wider ‘ecosystem’ supporting families and separated parents. It’s clear that bold action is needed if the government is to meet its ambitions both on child poverty and halving the level of violence against women and girls in the next decade.”
