‘Persistent failure’ of CMS set to be challenged by charity

Charity Gingerbread has received permission from the courts to intervene in a legal case to challenge the “persistent failure” of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to take “proper or effective steps” to recover maintained powers from absent parents.

Gingerbread campaign against the injustices that single parents face every day and challenge the stigmas around being a single parent. The claimants in the case argue that problems with the CMS are causing them “significant and prolonged financial difficulties” and “pushing them into poverty”.

Gingerbread hope to provide the court with their view on how the CMS is working for single parents as they consistently hear people who are being let down by the system.

Research provided by Gingerbread reveals that 140,000 children are not receiving a penny of the maintenance they are legally entitled to. What’s more, since 2012, when the CMS began, £547.9 million in unpaid maintenance has accumulated.

Gingerbread said that if child maintenance were paid in full to all children in separated families living in poverty who currently do not receive financial support from their other parent, it would have the potential to lift 60% of them out of poverty.

They also stated that in March, the case was given permission to proceed to a full hearing. The case will be heard at the High Court 3^rd and 5^th October.