Child Maintenance End Date

Firstly, what a great website (dad.info) / initiative to support fathers through a myriad of bureaucracy and challenges.

I've noticed a few posts on the forum regarding when child maintenance stops. For most fathers, it's not like we don't want to support our child(ren), moreso not to in effect be paying for the same things twice (if maintenance is still due). 

Having challenged a number of child maintenance decisions / findings and general code of ethics, several questions still largely remain unanswered.

It's become evident to me that Child Maintenance Service (CMS) staff are not all singing from the same hymn and the quality of the service is, at times, abysmal and some would argue weighted, the Service is weighted far too heavily in favour of the claimant.

If you have been scratching you head wondering when child maintenance ceases to be payable after receiving conflicting information from the CMS, their complaints department states that child maintenance finishes when a child finishes their full-time, non-advanced education (i.e., secondary school or college, not university) and upon being notified by the child benefit office that child benefit is no longer payable.

The CMS, which is part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), legal text says that “You must have a child maintenance arrangement if your child is under 16 (or under 20 if they are still in full-time education).". It's on Gov.uk (at least as of 31/3/23). At no point does it say that child benefit is a deciding factor. What if a claimant doesn't claim child benefit, then what?  How can the Benefits Office advise the CMS?

To test the water, I wrote to my eligible child's school who confirmed, in writing, that year 13 (upper sixth) students finish their full-time education on 28 June. Despite this being confirmed by an 'education provider', the CMS continues to state that maintenance payments will finish in early September (which is commonly the first Monday in September) in-line with child benefit, even though child benefit has nothing to do with child maintenance, nor does the CMS' legal text refer to the period of time after a child / young person finishes full-time education.

If, like me, you read the legal text as it reads up 'til when the child / young person's last day at school. There can be no ambiguity regarding this, yet the CMS continues to stipulate and enforce that payments are due 'til well after this time (e.g., June/July to September). When you ask them to provide evidence (i.e., the legal text to support their findings / decision), they cannot do so, despite repeated requests. And, if you challenge them on the matter, they ghost you. I only received a reply to several complaints after eventually writing to RH Mel Stride, the Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions, and involving my local MP. I never received a response from Mr Stride, although he was referenced in the response letter to several complaints, some of which remain unanswered. There's virtually no accountability whatsoever.

So, in conclusion to this message (and feel free to raise any questions if needed), challenge the CMS on their own definitions and decisions. It might not necessary help your son(s) or daughter(s) if they're due to finish full-time education this year, but it might help to change the landscape for other parents in the future. The quest has to be for more clarity and fairness, and for the CMS to conduct itself much better than it has done; e.g., for CMS staff to review their correspondence before issuing to decipher whether it's informative or not and cites the relevant rule / legislation.