OPFS response to House of Lords debate on Reforming the Child Maintenance Service

Barriers, delays and support for victim-survivors

The report and debate highlighted concerns about poor communication, enforcement delays, lack of trust in the Child Maintenance Service and whether the service is doing enough to support victim-survivors of domestic and economic abuse.

Our response

Single parent families have told us that navigating the Child Maintenance Service can feel like a game of snakes and ladders. Too often, parents become trapped in a repeated cycle of delays and setbacks, often having to repeat traumatic experiences only to find themselves back where they started. For some, the process becomes so exhausting that they give up altogether, leaving children without the financial support they are entitled to and placing even greater pressure on families already struggling to make ends meet.

Any future reforms must ensure that safety is at the heart of the child maintenance system and that families are not forced to retell often traumatic stories and navigate unnecessary obstacles in order to secure the financial support their children are entitled to.

Child maintenance as a child poverty issue

The committee was very clear that child maintenance should be understood as a poverty reduction tool, not simply an administrative system.

Our response

This reflects a central finding of the Transforming Child Maintenance project: child maintenance is one of the most important tools available for increasing family incomes and reducing child poverty.

Modelling by IPPR Scotland as part of the Transforming Child Maintenance project shows that around 210,000 children across the UK could be lifted out of poverty if they received the financial support they are entitled to. We need action that matches the scale of that opportunity

Abolishing Direct Pay

While Ministers remain committed to abolishing Direct Pay in favour of Collect & Pay, peers raised concerns whether replacing Direct Pay alone would address the wider challenges facing separated families.

Our response

Simply replacing Direct Pay with a revised Collect & Pay service will not address the underlying problems that prevent too many children from receiving the financial support they are entitled to.

We are calling for a universal child maintenance payment platform, open to all separated families and funded through the tax system. Parents would remain free to make their own arrangements, but where those arrangements break down, the system would step in to ensure children continue to receive the financial support they are entitled to.

This would make payments simpler and more convenient for families and help resolve non-payment more quickly. Families should not have to pay fees to secure money their children are entitled to.

Next steps

Many of the issues identified by the Public Services Committee are reflected in the recommendations developed through the Transforming Child Maintenance project.

With single parents, we have developed a clear roadmap for a fairer, more transparent and more effective child maintenance system.

The evidence is clear and the need for reform is widely recognised. Until that recognition is matched by a commitment to act, too many children will continue to miss out on the financial support they are entitled to.