Parents Hit by Child Maintenance Service Errors, BBC Investigation Finds

BBC Business reported Thursday that more than 30 parents have described serious errors by the UK’s Child Maintenance Service, including money wrongly seized from bank accounts and wages. The investigation, conducted through the BBC Your Voice platform, uncovered cases stretching back years and even decades.

A Teacher’s Shock Discovery

Maths teacher John Hammond, 56, from Peterborough, checked his banking app during a lunch break at his new school. He found nearly £20,000 had been removed without warning. His children were aged 25 and 28 at the time. His child support obligations had ended more than a decade earlier.

Hammond had received a letter in 2002 from the now-defunct Child Support Agency stating he owed £947 but that collection would not be pursued. He believed the matter closed. A 2019 letter from the CMS then claimed he owed almost £19,000. He disputed the demand and shared his original correspondence with the agency. Despite his challenge being active, the CMS obtained court orders and seized £19,269 from his account in late 2020.

Hammond won his appeal a year later. A county court judge ordered full repayment and awarded £8,000 in legal costs. Hammond had spent £14,055 on lawyers and says he remains more than £6,000 out of pocket. “Even when you’re proved right it doesn’t feel like justice,” he told the BBC.

Background: CMS Replaced a Troubled Predecessor

The CMS was established in 2012 to replace the Child Support Agency, which had developed a significant backlog of cases and a reputation for administrative failures. The CMS uses a formula to calculate parental payments and holds broad enforcement powers. It can recover funds directly from wages, bank accounts, benefits, and pensions. A recent House of Lords report also raised concerns, with parents telling peers that funds had been taken inappropriately while they were attempting to comply.

A Second Victim, a Similar Story

Devon-based fintech founder Richard George, 63, had £18,800 removed from his bank account in late 2019. He initially assumed he had been defrauded. A 2016 appeal tribunal had already written off more than £16,000 in arrears linked to a previous CSA case. George later discovered the CMS had been mailing correspondence to the wrong address for years, despite returned letters and repeated phone confirmations. It took until 2023 for the CMS to acknowledge the arrears should never have been transferred.

The Department for Work and Pensions, which oversees the CMS, told the BBC that enforcement is only used when parents persistently refuse voluntary payment arrangements. It did not directly address the individual cases highlighted in the investigation.

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