Child Maintenance Service Reviews 

One-Star Review of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS): “A Masterclass in Incompetence”

If Kafka had written about child support, the Child Maintenance Service would be his muse.

Let’s begin with the user experience. Imagine calling a customer service line, but instead of help, you get passed around like a hot potato at a team-building retreat. After 40 minutes on hold, you’re finally connected to someone who sounds like they’re either asleep or locked in a cupboard. Just when you’re getting somewhere, you’re told “that’s a different department”, transferred, and dropped into the void—never to return.

Want clarity on your payments? Pfft. CMS’s idea of “transparent” is like looking through a frosted bathroom window at midnight. One month you owe £300, the next it’s £800, and no one—not even their own staff—can explain why. Asking for a breakdown of charges is like requesting MI5’s security briefings. The response? “Computer says no.”

And let’s not forget the classic: “arrears”. CMS seems to calculate these using witchcraft, a dartboard, or the bones of a chicken. You pay on time, in full, via standing order—yet somehow you still owe £52.73 from a month in 2018 when Mercury was in retrograde. Pay it, or they’ll threaten enforcement like you’ve just defaulted on a mortgage for a yacht you didn’t buy.

Their Enforcement Team? Ah yes, a crack unit trained in the ancient art of overreaction. Miss a payment by a day and suddenly your wages are raided, your credit rating is trashed, and your bank thinks you’re laundering money for Pablo Escobar. Meanwhile, actual non-payers vanish into the mist like rogue wizards, unbothered and untouched.

Fairness? Not a chance. CMS operates under the belief that every paying parent is a champagne-sipping villain trying to dodge responsibility. Ask for a reassessment and you’re treated like you’re trying to scam your way out of buying your kid a sandwich.

And communication? They send letters that arrive after the deadline they gave you to respond. It’s like playing a game of chess with someone who moves your pieces while you’re asleep and then fines you for losing.

In short: if the CMS were a restaurant, you’d order a sandwich, wait 12 weeks, get charged for three steaks, and then be fined for not eating fast enough.

⸻

Final Verdict:

⭐️ 1 star, only because zero isn’t an option.

Perfect for those who enjoy bureaucracy, confusion, and feeling like a criminal for supporting their child. Avoid if you value logic, fairness, or having a shred of sanity left.

It needs to be abolished, rebuilt fairly.

Multiple times asked for detailed breakdown of my false arrears but nothing and when you do speak with them they don't seem bothered about you just about getting money even if it's incorrect

Unjust system, when you report the other parent for giving false information and offer them a way to investigate, they’re not bothered. Always side with the mums. A fraudulent government department that needs serious overhauling.

Absolutely appalling, unjust system, that punishes and treats the non-custodial parent as a criminal, with no consideration of the history between the parents and money assets already handed over. Furthermore, the money is not monitored or proven to be going on the children (rather, in this case, on the horses).
Father is paying a fortune each month (to a woman who left him for another man and took the children with her), because of this, he is forced to work overtime to make ends meet. Woman then gets a portion of his overtime as well the following year. Absolute immoral behaviour by the mother and outrageous rules by the CMS.
The whole CM system needs a government review!!

Disgusting company killing off good people!

Absolutely disgusting service I’ve always paid child maintenance never moaned or argued any payment and always paid on time then my son decided to move in with me full time I sent all the information to child maintenance and evidence and twice it has been rejected and been told it’s now got to go through a tribunal and I’ve still got to pay money even though my son lives with me and all I kept getting was it’s legislation

An absolute bunch of incompetents.

I left my ex due to her controlling behaviour, including financially controlling behaviour. That is now actually a crime.

And now the CMS are happy to let themselves be used to facilitate her controlling behaviour by proxy.

In 14 years I have always paid to the penny that which I am supposed to, and have always paid exactly on time. Not one single time have I failed to do so.

I am now retired early for health reasons (I suffered a stroke) and am on a small occupational pension. Divide my pension up over a nominal 35 hour working week and my income is about 2/3 of minimum wage, so I'm not exactly flush. Nevertheless, I still pay exactly as per CMS's formula.

My ex regularly phones CMS making spurious and obviously false claims about my income, most recently that I am secretly working and earning £70k - not bad for an ill health retiree that only leaves the house once or twice a week when my adult daughter can take me out.

These are obviously false claims, and can be easily dismissed if CMS were to just check with HMRC. But no, three or four times a year she makes these ridiculous claims as a means to harass or exert control over me and I have to faff about providing pension payslips etc each time, then endure the stress of waiting 5 or 6 weeks while they drag their heels closing the complaint.

On one occasion she told them I had another house and was earning undeclared rental income and CMS asked me to prove I didn't own another house. How is someone supposed to prove something in the negative? It took time and expense of a solicitor to get that one closed down.

There is clearly a pattern of frivolous and malicious behaviour on her part, but CMS blindly follow though every time and do her bidding in hassling me.

It gets better. We've been divorced 14 years (and remember I mentioned her financially controlling behaviour?) CMS take it upon themselves to inform her what my income is to the penny, so I have no privacy (breach of Article 8 ECHR) and when asked what legislation allows them to disclose my sensitive personal data (a breach of GDPR) they decline to answer. I mentioned this in passing while on a call to HMRC and they were genuinely aghast that CMS do this. I would challenge this but dont have the money to pay for solicitors just to uphold a point of principle.

Meanwhile, every minute spent hassling me, a scrupulous rigorous paying parent, is a minute less capacity they have to chase up non paying parents.

The CMS is not fit for purpose at either end. On the one hand non or underpaying parents seem to behave with impunity, while CMS permit themselves to to be manipulated into harassing honest paying parents. They're ineffective and institutionally willing to facilitate harassment on behalf of disgruntled parents with a grudge - abolish the organisation, sack the lot of them and start afresh, or else dont bother at all.

Total shambles that our government need to review. Failed to collect under a live DD. Realised this when I get a call this weekend to call them. Called today too late the have put collection to an Attachment of Earnings order. No apology for their incompetence. I cannot be the only who has experienced such poor experience. They are making something that is difficult far harder then it needs to be.

⭐️ One-Star Review of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS): “A Masterclass in Incompetence”

If Kafka had written about child support, the Child Maintenance Service would be his muse.

Let’s begin with the user experience. Imagine calling a customer service line, but instead of help, you get passed around like a hot potato at a team-building retreat. After 40 minutes on hold, you’re finally connected to someone who sounds like they’re either asleep or locked in a cupboard. Just when you’re getting somewhere, you’re told “that’s a different department”, transferred, and dropped into the void—never to return.

Want clarity on your payments? Pfft. CMS’s idea of “transparent” is like looking through a frosted bathroom window at midnight. One month you owe £300, the next it’s £800, and no one—not even their own staff—can explain why. Asking for a breakdown of charges is like requesting MI5’s security briefings. The response? “Computer says no.”

And let’s not forget the classic: “arrears”. CMS seems to calculate these using witchcraft, a dartboard, or the bones of a chicken. You pay on time, in full, via standing order—yet somehow you still owe £52.73 from a month in 2018 when Mercury was in retrograde. Pay it, or they’ll threaten enforcement like you’ve just defaulted on a mortgage for a yacht you didn’t buy.

Their Enforcement Team? Ah yes, a crack unit trained in the ancient art of overreaction. Miss a payment by a day and suddenly your wages are raided, your credit rating is trashed, and your bank thinks you’re laundering money for Pablo Escobar. Meanwhile, actual non-payers vanish into the mist like rogue wizards, unbothered and untouched.

Fairness? Not a chance. CMS operates under the belief that every paying parent is a champagne-sipping villain trying to dodge responsibility. Ask for a reassessment and you’re treated like you’re trying to scam your way out of buying your kid a sandwich.

And communication? They send letters that arrive after the deadline they gave you to respond. It’s like playing a game of chess with someone who moves your pieces while you’re asleep and then fines you for losing.

In short: if the CMS were a restaurant, you’d order a sandwich, wait 12 weeks, get charged for three steaks, and then be fined for not eating fast enough.

⸻

Final Verdict:
⭐️ 1 star, only because zero isn’t an option.
Perfect for those who enjoy bureaucracy, confusion, and feeling like a criminal for supporting their child. Avoid if you value logic, fairness, or having a shred of sanity left.

I have paid Child Maintenance as requested by them for the last 17 ish years.
As I'm self employed, I have overpaid when possible to ensure my ex wife always gets the money, even if my work is slower due to holidays/sickness etc.
However,.one month when I was 6 weeks in credit,.I forgot to pay. CMS put me onto their collect and pay service charging 20% fee.
How can a company/ organisation penalise you for being paid up and in credit?
Well the CMS think it's ok to do that, with no discussion, no warning letter, no request for money.
Funnily enough, now the CMS have come up with a new plan and have arranged to take money, they won't be taking any money this month. Guess why?? Because I'm overpaid!!!
You couldn't make it up.
Shameful bullies.

I am currently being harassed by the cms. Even though I pay the amount without fail every month they continue to send letters of proof of income, I prove this every month, I am fully employed and pay tax, I have nothing to hide but they continue!!
Absolute joke and they know nothing can be done because of who they are!

Absolutely awful service. The only way to get in contact with them is by phone. Is some cases it’s taken two hours to actually speak to someone. The operators are extremely rude and condescending. They are not concerned about what’s fair, extortion is a criminal offence and this company is allowed to operate like this without knowing the true facts. It’s seriously outdated. Especially when you can go online and everything is traceable today.

This insidious service bullies, harrases, causes issues, steals money and places profits over your ability to live.
Its not about the child, it is about making money, it is not about the NRP, it is about making money.

- Incompetent staff who give false or incorrect information constantly
- Unusable phone system with calls left unanswered and ringing, calls dropping constantly, if you can even get through.
- Online portal that can't handle document uploads and crashes
- Threatening texts
- Enabling Child Alienation for profit
- Forcing Deduction of Earnings for profit
- False arrears and fake unjustifiable increases even they cant or dont want to explain
- No accountability
- Uses legal powers to destroy lives and make people homeless
- Causes many suicides
- Are defiant and belligerent and uncaring when questioned or challenged about incorrect account information
- Believes the RPs word on anything
- Treats the NRP as a criminal
- fuels a legal system so broken a parent with a 50\50 lives with order still has to pay the other parent

I had to give a star rating, but actually I would give negative stars if I could.

SEND THIS

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS), in its current form, is an outdated and deeply flawed system that fails to operate with fairness, accuracy, or empathy. What was intended to ensure financial support for children has instead become a punitive, bureaucratic tool that disregards the circumstances of paying parents and enforces policies with little regard for equity or common sense.

One of the most significant issues with the CMS is how it calculates payments. The system assumes that a paying parent’s income remains static and does not take into account fluctuations, changes in employment, or financial hardship in real time. Even when income decreases dramatically—due to job loss, illness, or reduced hours—there is a long, complex, and often ignored process to report it. During this delay, the CMS continues to charge full amounts, building up arrears that may not reflect the reality of the situation. This results in unnecessary debt that haunts paying parents for months or even years.

The way the CMS enforces payments is not only aggressive but also completely disproportionate. Deductions from earnings orders, threats of enforcement action, and even the removal of driving licenses or passports are tools they use regularly. These actions are applied without sufficient warning or reasonable discussion, often leading to mental distress and financial instability. It feels more like a collection agency operating on commission than a service meant to support children or maintain family dignity.

What makes it worse is the one-sided nature of the system. The CMS often favors the receiving parent (the parent with care) without any accountability. There is minimal transparency about how the money is used, and no requirement for it to directly benefit the child. Meanwhile, the paying parent is treated with suspicion, as though unwilling to support their own child, even when they are already actively involved in their lives emotionally and financially outside the CMS framework.

The CMS also charges a 20% collection fee to the paying parent if direct payments cannot be agreed upon—effectively punishing parents who are already struggling financially. On top of that, it charges the receiving parent 4% of what they collect. These are fees on top of child maintenance, not optional costs. This outdated approach creates a toxic atmosphere of mistrust and forces families into conflict rather than cooperation.

Furthermore, the CMS is completely out of touch with modern parenting. It does not recognize shared care arrangements fairly. If a paying parent has their children several nights a week, covers clothing, food, school costs, or extracurriculars directly, this is not properly taken into account unless strict legal evidence is provided—something many separated parents don’t have. It ignores the emotional and physical contributions of fathers (and some mothers) who share parenting responsibilities, painting a black-and-white picture of care that simply doesn’t reflect today’s families.

In short, the CMS has made life more difficult, not better. It has added financial pressure, emotional stress, and unfair consequences to a situation that is already complicated. It urgently needs reform—starting with greater flexibility, more transparent processes, and an approach that treats both parents with fairness and respect.

Until these changes are made, many parents like myself will continue to feel penalized, unheard, and unfairly treated by a system that is supposed to support—not punish—families.

A total joke my ex can owe over 20 years of child maintenance payments and he still gets away with not paying for his once child they are just letting all these absent fathers get away with not paying what they should for there child

Stole money from my account. Money is more important than me looking after my child. Hooker for a mother and child maintenance as a father. I will not be taking part in this business plan. Ruining relationships between fathers and children. Poorly planned decisions to place a child in the hands of a self harming gang banger. then steal money from the father to reward explicit abusive behaviours. sick country no care for my child safety or well being.

Really poor service each person has own ideas not one gives a straight answer computer says no all paying parents should be given proof of attendance re college university etc my case involves overpayment based on a lie by claiming parent losses on my part £5000 csa response take her to court my response you’ve broken me financially they responded yeah we know but it’s my money yeah so what the don’t give a **** so if your a paying parent might be a little painful but go collect and pay skip paying direct pay as you will have zero help from the csa

CSA did help us when needed but what we don’t understand is, they don’t take our bills, Mortage into consideration. We pay over 600 pounds of CSA which we don’t get to see the kids by the way due to the mother blocking all access. So why do fathers have to pay when they don’t even get to see their kids, I understand it’s a fathers right to provide but they always have every right to see them. CSA should start checking the fathers bills and tax’s before just taking a big huge lump some of money coz fathers struggle to live and pay their own way when CSA take so much.

Absolutely without doubt the worst organization on the planet woefully inept hates all men especially self employed.

CSA Are deplorable.Its sad to say no wonder men commit suicide because of the CSA doings.
My brother has only just went through a separation 6 weeks ago and his wife has decided to involve CSA through spite even though he’s having children anywhere between 3-7 days a week. It is still an ‘in the air’ situation. Which yrs these things do happen but
My brother has received the most appalling DISTRESSING and DISGUSTING first letter which really needs reviewed by the CSA. it is a demanding threatening first letter stating how much he earns (which was wrong) and how much will be taken from him without him firstly speaking to them or being offered the opportunity to give his side.
The first letter should be fairer and not so threatening. It should ask both sides first.
There is absolutely no justice for the man or woman who does not have the child living with them in the sence your first correspondence is disgraceful. We will be involving the local MP and CAB on your threatening approach to the other party.