Understand the Child Maintenance Service. Then check whether it got your case right.
The statutory child maintenance scheme is governed by detailed law, and the CMS does not always follow it. This site explains the rules in plain English, shows you how to test your own assessment against them, and walks you through every route of challenge — mandatory reconsideration, tribunal appeal and formal complaint.
If your assessment is correct, this site will show you that too. Children are entitled to be supported. What every parent is also entitled to is a service that applies the law accurately — and a fair way to put things right when it doesn't.
Start with what you need
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Understand
How the CMS works, start to finish
The whole journey of a statutory case: application, calculation, Direct Pay or Collect & Pay, annual reviews, and where the pressure points are.
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Understand
How maintenance is calculated
Every rate band of the 2012 scheme formula with worked examples — and the reductions for shared care and other children that the CMS must apply.
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Tool
Check your case: the fairness self-assessment
Work through the checks the CMS should have carried out. Get a clear answer: treated correctly, or grounds to challenge — with your next steps.
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Challenge
Mandatory reconsideration
Your first, deadline-critical route of challenge. What to write, the evidence that works, and a template letter you can adapt in minutes.
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Challenge
Appeal to the tribunal
The First-tier Tribunal is independent of the CMS and re-decides your case on the law and evidence. Here's how the process really works.
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Enforcement
Enforcement powers and their limits
Deductions from earnings and bank accounts, liability orders, bailiffs, driving licence and passport removal — and the safeguards that apply to each.
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Complaints
The complaints ladder
When the problem is how the CMS behaved rather than what it decided: the CMS complaints process, the Independent Case Examiner, and the Ombudsman.
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Resource
Template letters
Ready-to-adapt letters for a mandatory reconsideration request, a formal complaint, a subject access request and an arrears breakdown demand.
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Resource
Reform tracker
The system is changing: Direct Pay is due to be abolished, fees restructured and new enforcement powers introduced. Track what's coming and when.
Three things to know before anything else
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Deadlines rule everything
Most challenges have a one-month clock
A mandatory reconsideration should be requested within one month of the decision letter, and a tribunal appeal within one month of the MR notice. Late requests are possible for up to 13 months with good reason — but never rely on that. Deadlines explained.
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Appeals ≠ complaints
Two separate systems, often needed together
Disagree with a decision (the amount, the income figure, shared care)? That's MR and appeal. Unhappy with conduct (delay, lost documents, wrong advice)? That's a complaint, which can lead to compensation. Many cases need both tracks at once. How they differ.
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Evidence wins cases
Get your case file early
A subject access request under UK GDPR gets you the CMS's own records of your case — free, within a month. It is often the single most useful step before any MR, appeal or complaint. How to make one.