Parents to pay for CMS

In June 2014, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) introduced charges for people using their services. The intention is that it will encourage the people involved to make family based arrangements rather than use the statutory scheme.

There is a one-off fee of £20 which is paid by the applicant; an application will not be considered to be made until the fee is paid. Applicants under the age of 18 at the application date and victims of domestic violence will not be charged.

For those who use the collection service instead of a direct pay arrangement there will be a charge of 4% of the child support paid to the Receiving Parent and the Paying Parent will pay an additional 20% on top of the child support liability.

e.g: Child Support assessment is £100, the paying parent pays £120, the money paid to the receiving parent is £96.

Other charges:

• £50 for making a deduction from earnings order (more info)
• £50 for making a regular deduction order
• £200 for making a lump sum deduction order
• £300 for applying for a liability order

There may be a waiver of enforcement fees in some circumstances such as if the Paying Parent pays child support voluntarily through a deductions from earnings order or more than one order is sought by the CMS in cases for example where the Paying Parent has more than one employer.

Read here about the CMS 2012 Scheme APPLICATION Process.