News & Updates

A former Child Maintenance Service employee has written to the Daily Mail confirming what paying parents have known for years — the system was broken from the inside. Writing in today's Daily Mail letters page, a former DWP civil servant describes being transferred to the Child Maintenance Group in 2013 alongside 250 colleagues. What they found was damning: Undertrained staff. Six weeks of training instead of the required thirteen. A computer system described as "obsolete BT software" that was "unfit for purpose." Call handlers who openly admit: "most of us didn't know what we were doing." Callers had to make multiple attempts to get help. Each call was likely answered by a different handler — often equally undertrained. The few staff who actually understood the system were burned out by stress. Management responded not with support, but with threats of disciplinary action. The result? Within two years, 80% of staff had voluntarily resigned — many with no other job to go to. The writer concludes: "Just like the Horizon Post Office scandal, I strongly suspect this will run and run without resolution. In both cases, the little people are up against big, bullying beasts." This is exactly what our campaign has been saying. The failures paying parents have experienced — incorrect calculations, ignored complaints, enforcement action based on wrong figures — are not accidents. They are the predictable consequence of a system that was never given the tools, training, or support to work properly. If you have experienced CMS failures, the BBC's Your Voice team are actively investigating and want to hear from you: 📧 yourvoice@bbc.co.uk 📱 WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803 Read the full letter in the Daily Mail →

The Daily Mail has published a scathing editorial on the Child Maintenance Service — and it pulls no punches. Read the full Daily Mail comment piece → The paper's investigation "uncovered a disturbing pattern of conscientious middle-class parents being plagued for payments for which they are not liable and which they cannot afford to make." Citing National Audit Office figures, it notes that by 2022 — ten years after CMS launched — there were 24,466 cases of parents overcharged, with one father receiving six letters in a single day all claiming he owed different amounts. Crucially, the Mail draws a direct line between CMS's errors and real harm: "Our inquiries turned up incidences of crippling debt, depression, breakdowns, lost careers, abandoned homes and suicide." It cites the case of Jonathan O'Neill, 41, who fought a four-year battle over an inaccurate bill and posted on Facebook shortly before he died that CMS was "about to take yet another life." The editorial's conclusion is unambiguous: "Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden, whose brief covers the agency, must launch an immediate review before any other poor unfortunate is hounded to the grave." This is the biggest national press moment this campaign has had. Please share this as widely as you possibly can — Facebook groups, WhatsApp, X, family and friends. Every share puts pressure on Pat McFadden and the DWP to act. If you haven't already shared your story or signed the petition, now is the moment — this coverage is proof that the pressure is working.

We are sharing this with heavy hearts. Mark spent over three years fighting to see his children. During that time he faced false allegations, court delays, no meaningful enforcement of contact orders, and a child maintenance system that continued to take money every month — while he was being prevented from seeing the children he was paying for. His partner told the community that the loss of his children broke him. Not because he stopped caring. Because he cared too much. Eventually, he could no longer see a future. Another parent is gone. Another family is shattered. Another set of children will grow up without their father. This is not an isolated incident. This is a pattern — and it has to stop. If you are struggling right now, please reach out. You are not alone and your life matters. Visit our mental health support page → Please read the full account and share it. People need to know what is happening behind closed doors. Read Mark's story on Facebook → Rest in peace, Mark. ❤️

The campaign has a soundtrack. We've created an original song — written by paying parents, for paying parents — about what the Child Maintenance Service has put families through. It says what a lot of us have felt but struggled to put into words. Listen to the CMS Song → Share it. Send it to your MP. Post it in your groups. The more people who hear it, the harder we are to ignore.

The BBC has published an investigation into the Child Maintenance Service wrongly taking money from paying parents through enforcement actions based on incorrect arrears calculations. Read the full BBC investigation → The BBC spoke to paying parents who had money taken directly from their bank accounts by CMS — money they did not owe. One parent described recovering the funds as no victory: "It was simply the end of a long fight to recover money that CMS had no right to take in the first place." Another said: "It came after years of fighting, and it didn't undo the impact it had on my health, my work or my life." These are not isolated cases. This is what hundreds of you have told us through this campaign. CMS is imposing enforcement action — bank deductions, earnings deductions, bailiffs — based on figures that are wrong. When parents fight back, they eventually win. But the fight costs them everything. We at UK CMS Fight for Change have already been in contact with the BBC and shared our campaign evidence. The BBC's Your Voice team are now actively seeking more accounts from paying parents affected by CMS. This is your opportunity to be heard by a national audience. Contact the BBC Your Voice team now — three ways: 📧 Email: yourvoice@bbc.co.uk 📱 WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803 🐦 Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay You can also send them a video note via WhatsApp. Include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist directly. What to tell them: Incorrect arrears demands made against you Money taken from your bank or wages without justification How long you fought to get it back — and whether you succeeded The impact on your mental health, your work, and your family Whether CMS ever acknowledged their mistake Keep it factual, specific, and include dates and amounts where you can. The BBC's form asks for 1 to 200 words — be concise and powerful. If you haven't yet submitted a Subject Access Request, do it now — your CMS records may contain the evidence you need. And if you haven't shared your story on this site, add it here too. The BBC is actively investigating. Make sure your voice is part of it.

This is urgent — please read and act today. BBC Panorama, one of the UK's most watched investigative programmes, is actively looking into the Child Maintenance Service. Following widespread coverage of the deadly consequences of CMS mismanagement, Panorama's team are now seeking personal accounts from families affected — specifically how CMS practices are contributing to parental alienation, financial ruin, and in some cases, death. We at UK CMS Fight for Change have already made contact with the Panorama team and shared the evidence we have gathered — including our petition, the stories shared by our supporters, and the data on paying parent deaths. We will keep you updated as this develops. Now we need you to act. The Panorama team want to hear directly from paying parents. Your story — in your own words — could be the account that makes it onto national television and into the public consciousness. This is the moment we have been building towards. Contact the BBC Panorama team directly at: panorama.reply@bbc.co.uk Tell them what CMS has done to you. Tell them about the enforcement action, the financial pressure, the impact on your mental health and your relationship with your children. Keep it factual, keep it personal, and keep it honest. If you haven't yet shared your story on our site, do that too — it strengthens the body of evidence we can present to journalists and parliamentarians. Your story matters. Your voice matters. This is your moment.

Wow. Just wow. Two weeks ago we launched this campaign with nothing but a website, a petition, and a shared sense of injustice. Today we have 300 active supporters — 300 paying parents who have stood up and refused to be ignored. Every single person on this petition represents a family that has been failed. A parent who tried to do the right thing and was punished for it. Please keep sharing — on Facebook, in group chats, with anyone you know who is dealing with CMS. Every new supporter makes our petition stronger and our voice louder. New — MP Letters Map: We've just launched an interactive map showing where paying parents across the UK are formally contacting their MPs. Every pin is evidence. Every constituency that lights up tells Parliament that this isn't isolated — it's a national crisis. If you've written to your MP, add your letter to the map now so we can show the true scale of this campaign. Our next milestone is 500 supporters — at that point we trigger a formal press release and approach STOPS for an endorsement. We are close. Help us get there.

We have created a Subject Access Request (SAR) page to help you all create one. Visit Help to find it.

One hundred of you signed the petition in its first 24 hours. Today, those signatures landed on the desk of our local MP. I have formally written to Andrew Lewin MP for Welwyn Hatfield, referencing the campaign and attaching the full petition document — with every name and postcode of every person who has stood up and said enough is enough. In the letter I have asked him to: Meet with me urgently — in person or by phone — to discuss both my personal case and the campaign Write to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with the petition attached, requesting a formal response to our five reform points Submit written parliamentary questions on the gross income calculation, the 12-hour education threshold, and CMS's refusal to collect data on the suicides of paying parents This is what your signatures have already done — in under 24 hours. They are no longer just numbers on a screen. They are a formal parliamentary document, with your name on it, in front of an elected representative who now has to respond. What happens next: I will share the MP's response here as soon as I receive it. If you haven't already shared the campaign with other paying parents, now is the moment — every new signature strengthens the next letter we send. Thank you. This is just the beginning.

We launched yesterday. By this morning, 113 paying parents and supporters had signed the parliamentary petition. 113 people who found this campaign, read what it stands for, and said yes — this matters, I want my name on this. In less than 24 hours. Every one of those signatures represents a family. A parent who has been failed by a system that was supposed to be fair. A person who has been fighting alone and now knows they are not. This is just the beginning. Our target is 50,000 signatures before the Government's CMS consultation closes. We are 0.2% of the way there — but we got here in a single day. What happens next: We are approaching national newspapers with the campaign story this week We are writing to the Work and Pensions Select Committee with our petition Every new signature strengthens the case we put before Parliament If you have not yet shared this campaign, now is the time. Every person you tell could be the one who tips us over the next milestone. Thank you. Genuinely.