How the CMS is failing our children – Issue 2 – The facts & figures
We were extremely keen to provide some facts and figures directly from the CMS so that we could talk openly about how they calculate their own figures and how they make assessments for both resident and non-resident parents. Once one of our skilled volunteer started searching for this information it was made abundantly clear that this is not really something the CMS wants you to know or find out. The CMS had a long period of time where their own policies and procedures did not appear on their website. We did manage to find a website where all of them had been downloaded and uploaded in order to be able to try and access them more easily.
However, there are over 500 pdf documents. Lots with titles in code. Lots with wording that is not written in plain language. Lots of information that isn’t clear and doesn’t make sense.
A fellow child poverty campaigner recently stated that they had contacted the CMS on many an occasion and actually quoted their own policy back to them after being told something totally different to the actual policy that the staff are supposed to be following. It was made clear to us after attempting to find out the most basic information that transparency and honesty doesn’t shape part of the CMS’ priorities.
According to the Department for Work and Pensions CMS statistics, ‘Paying Parent’ compliance ranged between 67% and 74%. These figures are for the Collect & Pay Service only. These statistics run between June 2019 and June 2020. These figures only represent pre Covid-19. The compliance rate has also been inflated between 10 April and 9 May 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. All deductions from non-residents Universal Credit were temporarily paused and the Government paid all child maintenance liabilities for these parents. This resulted in a higher than usual rate of compliance for this group which the CMS has conveniently added to their statistical data, highlighting the lack of transparency of this data.
We would like to question, where are all the figures around the 33% of parents who are NOT in the above category?
Is it really ok for a third of children from separated families in the UK to not have 2 parents taking financial responsibility for them? Doesn’t it state in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) under Article 18:
‘Both parents share responsibility for bringing up their child and should always consider what is best for the child. Governments must support parents by creating support services for children and giving parents the help they need to raise their children’
Yes! This is not ok, and no child should have to be in a situation where the resident parent is the only one taking any financial responsibility for them.
According to an article in The Independent (September, 2020):
80% of parents due to receive CM say the current system has enabled their ex-partner to financially control or abuse them.
A third of those eligible for CM payments receive no money whatsoever
Only 16% of those who use the CMS say they get the full amount due each month
80% said they felt it was unlikely that they would ever receive what is owed to them
70% said that using the CMS had worsened their mental health
For those that are owed maintenance and living in poverty, being paid the CM they are due would lift approximately 60% of them out of poverty
In 2019 over 100,000 children in the UK went without any payments at all
Where a relationship between the two parents has broken down the CMS charge £20 for the resident parent to just simply open a case. If after the CMS has done everything they can to persuade and encourage you to have an amicable agreement with the non-resident parent and use the Direct Pay service, they will then get involved in helping you to claim some money for your children. This barrier for some parents is enough to put them off claiming anything altogether. In order for you to bypass the Direct Pay service altogether you have to prove domestic abuse and jump through all sorts of red tape and declare no end of information. If eventually you do get to the “Collect & Pay” part of the service and the non-resident parent disputes the amount, then the CMS gets involved and decides this figure. However, the CMS charges the resident parent a 4% fee on any money they do actually receive from the non-resident parent. The non-resident parent also has to pay an extra 20% to the CMS for this service.
Using the current figures that the CMS has (just over 500,000 cases with an average 50% application fee exemption), just calculating the amount from the application fee, means that:
approximately 5 million pounds has been paid into the CMS system from the application fee alone.
This is money FOR CHILDREN that is being handed over to the CMS with no choice, no tick box to say no thanks. Wouldn’t it just be fairer if the Child Maintenance Service stopped treating this money as an 'optional extra' and instead paid all Child Maintenance directly to the resident parent?
You can read Issue 1- How the CMS is failing our children, The Reality for Single parents here.
Keep an eye out for our third issue to gain further understanding and see how you can support us to make a change.
If you are a single parent in Wales we want to hear your view point on the CMS system. We want to hear from both resident and non resident parents. COMPLETE THE SURVEY HERE.
If you are a single parent in England then you can complete a survey by The National Audit Office (NAO), who are investigating whether the CMS is delivering value for money HERE