The UK’s Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has been accused of systemic failures after hundreds of parents reported being wrongly charged thousands of pounds. In some cases, payments were deducted directly from wages or benefits for sums they never owed. One father from Manchester described how £20,000 was taken from him over two years for a child that was not his, despite providing DNA evidence.
Another mother in Birmingham found her earnings seized to cover arrears that had been miscalculated due to a CMS data entry error. The errors stem from an automated system that struggles to verify income, paternity, and residency status. Campaigners say the burden of proof falls unfairly on parents, and the appeals process is opaque.
The Department for Work and Pensions acknowledges ‘some cases of incorrect assessments’ but insists that the majority are accurate. For families already strained by the cost of living, these mistakes can be financially crippling. The Public Accounts Committee has called for an urgent review, but for many, the damage is done.
