25 signatures reached
To: Dr. Rupa Huq, Alison McGovern (MP), and Baroness Debbie Abrahams
The current Child Maintenance System (CMS) needs to be abolished!
The Child Maintenance Service takes money that is supposed to go to children.
Urgent Abolition of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS)
Petition Summary:
We, the undersigned, call on His Majesty's Government to abolish the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) in its current form and replace it with a fairer, child-focused system based on mediation and mutual parental responsibility. The CMS has demonstrably failed in its mission, contributing to harm for parents and children alike. Immediate replacement is essential.
Background:
The CMS was originally intended to ensure that children receive financial support from both parents following separation. In practice, however, the institution has behaved in a manner that is reminiscent of anti-child organisations, resulting in the suicide of numerous individuals, the exile of numerous parents, and mental and physical health disorders. The system has become deeply flawed, contributing to hardship, injustice, and conflict.
For every £100 of maintenance, only £76 reaches the child. CMS applies a 20% surcharge to the paying parent and deducts 4% from the receiving parent. This effectively means the system profits from money intended for children.
The current CMS is not fit for purpose. It causes harm, exacerbates conflict, and fails to serve the children it was created to protect. To prevent needless suffering, even death for parents and children this year, it must be outlawed today. A new, compassionate Mediation service and fair model is urgently needed.
Why is this important?
Numerous children have lost parents due to the interference of CMS, resulting in mental illness, murder, suicide, or emigration. The harshness of CMS towards parents who are pursuing contact through the court system is unconscionable. How can such an event serve the best interests of the children?
CMS does not always take the child's overall welfare into account by concentrating only on financial aid. We want an alternative that will focus on the general well being of the child by providing emotional support, and making sure that the non-monetary contributions of both parents—like caring and emotional support—are taken into consideration.
1. Injustice and Financial Abuse – Numerous paying parents are subjected to exorbitant assessments that are based on inaccurate income data, arbitrary penalties, and a lack of consideration for their financial circumstances or contact with their children. Such abuse has resulted in homelessness, mental health crises, and even suicide in certain instances.
CMS does not always take the child's overall welfare into account by concentrating only on financial aid. We want an alternative that will focus on the general well being of the child by providing emotional support, and making sure that the non-monetary contributions of both parents—like caring and emotional support—are taken into consideration.
1. Injustice and Financial Abuse – Numerous paying parents are subjected to exorbitant assessments that are based on inaccurate income data, arbitrary penalties, and a lack of consideration for their financial circumstances or contact with their children. Such abuse has resulted in homelessness, mental health crises, and even suicide in certain instances.
2. CMS takes funds intended for children: For example every £100 of child maintenance, the CMS deducts £24 in fees, leaving only £76 for the child, because CMS levies a 20% charge on the paying parent and subtracts 4% from the money received by the receiving parent.
3. Lack of Transparency and Accountability — The CMS is operated with minimal oversight. The CMS frequently disregards or postpones appeals and complaints, and its decisions lack transparency. The procedure is emotionally taxing and heavily bureaucratic.
4. CMS weaponization: Certain parents use the CMS as a means of personal retribution or control, utilising its capabilities to incite conflict among co-parents rather than collaboration. Few safeguards are in place to prevent the fabrication of fraudulent claims or manipulation within the system.
5. Failure to prioritise the child's best interests— Instead of promoting the well-being of children, the CMS frequently exacerbates parental conflict, discourages shared parenting, and imposes financial distress that negatively impacts the entire family.
We therefore petition the UK Government to:
• Eliminate the CMS in its current form and replace it with a fair, child-focused alternative that encourages mediation, shared parenting, and balanced financial responsibility.
• Conduct an independent public inquiry into the conduct, practices, and outcomes of the CMS.
• Implement clear safeguards to prevent misuse and ensure accurate assessments.
• Enhance transparency, appeal rights, and accountability within any future system.
• Child focus legislation: The DVLA has vehicle focus legislation in place, and the RSPCA has animal focus legislation in place, but there is no child focus legislation in place for both males and females.
Urgent and substantive reform is necessary to ensure the well-being of children and the rights of both parents.
Credible sources:
committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/106915/pdf/
OPFS_Child_Maintenance_Report_1.pdf
Child Maintenance - NAO report
Independent review of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) response to domestic abuse - GOV.UK
Child Maintenance Service: Government Response to the Committee’s Fourteenth Report of Session 2016–17 - Work and Pensions Committee - House of Commons
How it will be delivered
To be deliver to the government either electronically or in persons.
