Child Maintenance Service

Ian Sollom Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ian Sollom (St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire) (LD)]

This evening I want to address a system that is failing thousands of families across our country: the Child Maintenance Service. In doing so, I hope that this House will send a clear message to every parent struggling with that system and every affected young person that their MPs are listening and that we are determined to act.

I am pleased to see that the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Andrew Western), is responding for the Government, and I look forward to working with him to achieve the meaningful transformation that families desperately need.

Before my election last July, I confess that the Child Maintenance Service had not been on my radar as such an important issue. That changed almost immediately upon my taking office, as constituents came to me with accounts of their experiences with the CMS, and appeals for help. These were not isolated incidents or minor inconveniences; they revealed systemic failures, enforcement mechanisms that seem to exist in name only, loopholes exploited by those seeking to evade their responsibilities, inadequate protections for survivors of domestic abuse, and an impersonal bureaucracy that overwhelms those it should be there to help. Failures to correct even basic errors grind down those unfortunate enough to be let down by the system.

I want to share one constituent’s story that exemplifies those failings. For nearly two decades, dating back to the days of the old Child Support Agency, she has fought for what her child should have been entitled to. In all that time, her ex-partner has made consistent payments for just six months. After courageously leaving an abusive relationship, she had turned to the CMS for support. Instead, she encountered a system powerless to act when her ex-partner began gaming the system. He claimed to be unemployed while there was evidence that he was working. Missed payments would coincide with birthdays and Christmas, depriving her of the means to make those occasions special for her child. He refused to engage unless she contacted him directly, knowing full well how traumatic that would be given the history of abuse. Her mental health, understandably, deteriorated.

Yet in all her desperate calls to the CMS, rarely did she speak to the same person twice—someone familiar with her case and invested in its resolution. In her words, support consisted of someone

“who read from a screen, then said they will transfer me to someone who can help but really just put me back in the queue.”

She has spent years feeling that she is going around in circles, without receiving all the payment that she should have received for the care of her child. Madam Deputy Speaker, I hope that the Minister agrees that this falls well short of what vulnerable families deserve.

[Mrs Sarah Russell (Congleton) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way. Does he agree that we need more enforcement, more accurate assessment of non-resident parent income, and better joined-up working between His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions? Furthermore, if we saw that, it would help not just his constituents, to whom he has referred so passionately, but parents such as my constituent whose ex-partner is avoiding paying any ongoing child maintenance despite owning multiple properties.

[Ian Sollom]

I absolutely agree; that is exactly the sort of reform we need to see in the system, and I will come to those points later.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing forward this matter. I spoke to him before the debate. I would love to say that things are better in Northern Ireland, but they are not better one bit. Hon. Members can see that I have no hair, and one reasons for that is that I find this matter incredibly stressful, and he has referred to things that I and my staff deal with regularly. The statistics for Northern Ireland show that in March last year only 54% of parents were paying more than 90% of what they owe. That means that 46% of those who should be paying are not. It is quite clear to me that the system falls down. Single-parent families are struggling. Does he agree that we need a UK-wide overhaul to address such worrying statistics—not just in Northern Ireland, but everywhere in this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?

[Ian Sollom]

I will come to the national statistics later in my speech, but those mentioned by the hon. Gentleman absolutely speak to the need for reform.

The constituent I mentioned is far from alone, and it is not all one way, with paying parents often finding themselves let down by the CMS too. Another constituent has spent months battling the service after experiencing a genuine drop in income. Despite providing every piece of documentation that he has been asked for, he has been left waiting and waiting for an adjustment to his payment schedule. He said:

“I received a letter that said my request was not valid. No explanation was given. The letter said I would be referred to an unnamed team that could help me. Almost two months later, I have received no contact.”

That is just another story that embodies the failures at the CMS.

I recently attended the parliamentary event hosted by Gingerbread, the charity for single-parent families, and the all-party parliamentary group on single-parent families. The testimony shared that day echoed many of the fundamental problems: enforcement failures, dehumanising customer service, the resulting financial hardship and, in too many cases, continued abuse.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn (Calder Valley) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Member for securing this important debate. I note that I am an officer of the APPG on single-parent families. The recent excellent report from Gingerbread on fixing the CMS noted that where child maintenance is paid, child poverty is 25% lower in those families. Does he agree that Gingerbread’s work is absolutely vital, but that it is also vital, as an important step towards solving the problem of child poverty, that we fix the Child Maintenance Service?

--- Later in debate ---

[Ian Sollom]

Gingerbread’s report on fixing the CMS is excellent. It has a lot of pointers and a lot of excellent statistics about how single-parent families are being let down. I will come on to some of those now.

The Government’s own child maintenance statistics paint a damning picture: 31% of all paying parents made no maintenance payments whatsoever, and a further 12% paid less than 60% of what they owed. Those are not just statistics; they represent thousands upon thousands of children going without. I therefore ask the Minister directly: how do the Government intend to strengthen the CMS’s enforcement powers to prevent systemic abuse? Further, following the recent consultation on improving payment collection and transfer, when can we expect to see the Government’s response?

More than a million children nationwide depend on CMS arrangements. Many of those children and their single-parent families lack the financial security they deserve and need. That brings me to the wider issue of child poverty. That is an area that this Government claim to prioritise, yet it is hard not to question the depth of that commitment when they have so far refused to abolish the two-child benefit cap and when reform of the CMS seems barely to have featured in policy discussions.

The evidence is stark. According to Save the Children, almost half of all children in single-parent families live in poverty, compared with one in four children in two-parent households. Gingerbread’s “Fix the CMS” report revealed that over 50% of parents not receiving their entitled maintenance struggle to pay essential bills. Nearly half cannot afford basic necessities for their children, such as clothes, shoes and school uniforms.

It should be self-evident that any serious strategy to tackle child poverty must include fundamental reform of the CMS. What progress has been made on the Government’s child poverty strategy, and have they given appropriate consideration to reform of the CMS? The challenges for the CMS are numerous and complex, and they beg further questions. Will the Government consider reviewing the CMS funding formula to ensure that it truly reflects the cost of raising a child? Will they commit to amending service charges, including the 4% fee for receiving parents who use collect and pay, and the initial £20 enrolment charge? How can the Government improve staff recruitment, retention and training, to ensure that the workforce can properly support those who depend on this vital service?

Those are just some of the questions that the Government must consider if they want to reform the CMS. The answers will not be easy, so I thank the Minister in advance for his response, and Mr Speaker for granting this important debate. Finally, I acknowledge the contributions and presence of all Members who have stayed for this debate. They understand the gravity of the issue. I hope the Minister is about to show us that the Government do too.