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Payment Loopholes and Self-Employment within the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Single-Parent Families invites you to our next meeting on Payment Loopholes and Self-Employment within the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). Thursday 2nd July 2026, 12:30 – 13:30    Parliament and Zoom (hybrid)

 
Thursday 2nd July 2026, 12:30 – 13:30    Parliament and Zoom (hybrid)
 
With reform of the CMS on the horizon, the APPG continues its investigation into the effectiveness of the service with a session examining how financial loopholes are being used to avoid or reduce child maintenance payments.
 
Research suggests that the CMS may be least effective when paying parents are self-employed or in irregular work. Single parents report tactics including underreporting income, declaring minimal profits, and taking earnings ‘cash in hand’ to reduce payments, with some even pointing to online forums that share advice on exploiting weaknesses in the system.
 
Chaired by Dr Rupa Huq MP, this meeting will bring together leading experts and single parents with lived experience of the CMS to explore the manipulation of these loopholes, the impact they have on single-parent families, and how the government can close them as part of wider CMS reform.
 
This will be a hybrid session, taking place in parliament and remotely via Zoom.
 
If you would like to attend remotely, please register via Eventbrite using the button below.
I’d like to attend virtually https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/all-party-parliamentary-group-on-single-parent-families-tickets-1991466031509?aff=oddtdtcreator
If you would like to attend in-person, please fill out this expression of interest form by Tuesday, 16 June.
I’d like to attend in-person https://www.tfaforms.com/5225506
 
Registration does not guarantee a spot. As space is limited, attendance will be confirmed on a first-come, first-served basis.  If you've secured a place, we'll be in touch by Friday, 19 June with a confirmation.
 
Yours sincerely,
Secretariat, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Single-Parent Families
21:34, 10 Jun 2026 by Joanna Gurr
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Domestic Abuse and the Child Maintenance Service Published 22 April 2026

from national single parent campaigning organisation GINGERBREAD

Gingerbread, Surviving Economic Abuse, and Women’s Aid have jointly collaborated with victim-survivors to develop this briefing, “Maintenance is used as a weapon all of the time” Domestic Abuse and the Child Maintenance Service, which explores the experiences of victim-survivors of domestic abuse with the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) and sets out practical recommendations to strengthen support and safeguards.
Key findings:
The research found that:
  • The CMS fails to support survivors to safely and sustainably access the CMS.
  • The CMS fails to prevent non-payment of children’s support and non-disclosure of earnings.
  • The CMS fails to safeguard against misuse by abusive parents that places victim-survivors at risk of harm.
  • The CMS fails to provide effective and accessible specialist support to victim-survivors.
Key recommendations:
The research found that victim-survivors want reforms to the CMS to include:
  • Urgently introducing legislation that will enable the government to safely transition service users from the Direct Pay service to Collect and Pay.
  • Providing specialist developed and delivered training and support for CMS staff to consistently identify and respond to domestic, including economic, abuse, with a particular focus on how the CMS is used to coerce and control victim survivors.
  • Improving safeguarding processes and procedures to help survivors safely engage with the CMS to manage their children’s entitlements. This includes basic procedures for alerting survivors to any changes or contact with a perpetrator that could increase their risk of harm, and ensuring access to specialist, trauma informed support.
  • Using stronger enforcement of non-payment and fraudulent non-disclosure of earnings responses, including improved automatic maintenance calculations based on cross-agency information sharing, proactive monitoring and investigations that do not place a disproportionate burden on victim-survivors to report or prove fraud, and a zero tolerance approach to non-compliance. The reforms should also close loopholes that allow abusers to misuse the enforcement process to evade accountability and urgently introduce secondary legislation to implement commitments made in the Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023.
  • Removing barriers to the Collect and Pay service, by guaranteeing that victim-survivors can remain on Collect and Pay indefinitely to safely manage their children’s entitlements and waiving Collect and Pay fees for all parents, so that they are not financially penalised for relying on the CMS to safely manage their children’s support.
The full briefing, including detailed findings and a complete list of recommendations, can be found here https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Gingerbread-CMS-and-DA-Report-2026-WEB.pdf
If you would like to stay up to date on Gingerbread’s work, including our #FixtheCMS campaign, join our mailing list below.
21:17, 22 Apr 2026 by Joanna Gurr
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