The UK government’s child maintenance system is facing a fresh storm after exclusive documents obtained by this newsroom reveal hundreds of parents have been wrongly chased for debts they never owed. Some cases exceed £20,000.
Internal emails from the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) show that in at least 340 cases last year, officials pursued payments based on flawed calculations or outdated income data. The victims: parents who had already paid their share or were never liable in the first place.
“I got a letter saying I owed £20,000,” said Mark, a father from Leeds who asked to remain anonymous. “I nearly had a heart attack. I’ve never missed a payment. They had my income wrong by a factor of three.”
Mark’s case is not isolated. A leaked spreadsheet, marked “high-priority errors”, lists 172 parents with demands for over £10,000. Twelve cases exceed £50,000. The errors stem from a 2018 software update that botched how the CMS calculates “gross income” for self-employed parents. Instead of using net profit, the system sometimes applied gross turnover, inflating liabilities.
Sources inside the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) confirm that at least three staff whistleblowers raised the issue internally in 2019. No action was taken. The DWP now says it is “reviewing” the cases, but has not committed to refunds.
“This is a systematic failure,” said a former CMS auditor who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The system is designed to extract money, not to get it right. Parents are being railroaded by automated demands with no human oversight.”
The revelations come as the Work and Pensions Committee prepares to question CMS bosses next week. Labour MP and committee member Debbie Abrahams called it “a scandal that destroys families”. She added: “Parents already struggling are being harassed for money they don’t owe. This must end.”
The CMS handles payments for over 1.2 million children. In 2022, it collected £1.4 billion in maintenance. But the error rate has been concealed. A freedom of information request by this newsroom revealed that the CMS does not publish data on incorrect debt demands.
“The DWP is sitting on a liability that could run into tens of millions,” said a family law barrister who reviewed the documents. “The government needs to audit every demand issued since 2018 and refund every penny taken in error.“
For Mark, the fight continues. “They still haven’t apologised. They just said they’d ‘look into it’. That’s not good enough. This is my life.”
The DWP declined to comment on individual cases but said: “We take accuracy seriously and are improving our systems. Anyone who believes they have been charged incorrectly should contact us.”
But for the parents caught in the crossfire, words ring hollow. The paper trail suggests a system that prioritises collection over justice. And the bill is coming due.
