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Everything you need to know about the UK Child Maintenance Service
6 articles
Paying ParentCMS DNA Tests: 4,045 Cases Closed Because He Was Not the Father
Data the DWP does not publish, released under FOI: how often parentage disputes end with the paying parent proved right, who pays for the test, and what happens to money already paid.
Over 6,300 Paying Parents Died While in CMS Arrears. Nobody Recorded Why
Six years of FOI data on deaths of paying parents with arrears, 93% of them men. The DWP holds the date of every one and the cause of none. What the numbers show, what they cannot, and the one review a year that follows.
The Other Parent Is Struggling With Drink or Drugs. Now What?
The CMS has no safeguarding role and keeps collecting regardless. If your child is not safe, the routes are social services and the family court. What to do, in order.
Do I Have to Pay Child Maintenance? Almost Always, Yes
Not seeing your child, not being on the birth certificate and never wanting the pregnancy make no difference. The rare situations that genuinely do.
Child Maintenance Advice for Fathers: Rights and Options
Paying does not buy contact, and being refused contact does not cancel paying. What fathers are actually entitled to, and the costliest mistakes.
How to Reduce Child Maintenance Payments, Legitimately
Shared care nights, pension contributions and other children in your household all cut your liability. What genuinely works, and what gets challenged.