Child maintenance & your rights

• The right to apply. Any parent with day-to-day care of a child under 16 (or under 20 in approved education) can apply to the CMS under the Child Support Act 1991. There is a £20 application fee — waived if you are under 19 or a survivor of domestic abuse.
• The right to a calculation using gross income. CMS calculates maintenance from HMRC-reported gross weekly income using statutory percentages (12% / 16% / 19% for 1 / 2 / 3+ children on the basic rate). You do not have to take the paying parent's word for it.
• The right to enforcement. CMS can use deduction from earnings orders, lump-sum and regular deductions from bank accounts, liability orders, bailiffs, driving licence and passport disqualification, and committal — all without you returning to court.
• The right to a fair, dignified service. Under the Customer Charter and the Equality Act 2010, you can ask for safe contact only via email, a single named caseworker, and never to be put through to the other parent.
• The right to complain and escalate. CMS complaint → Independent Case Examiner (ICE) → Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) via your MP.

If you have experienced domestic abuse you are entitled to the Domestic Abuse Service Type. Tell the CMS at the first call (or in writing) — they do not require proof. You then get:

• The £20 application fee waived.
• Collect & Pay by default, so you never share bank details with the abuser.
• A single named caseworker and a do-not-discuss list.
• Permission to use a "safe address" — your address is withheld from the paying parent.
• No requirement to attempt "family-based arrangement" first.

• Direct Pay — CMS calculates, parents arrange payment between themselves. No collection fee. Risky where there is a history of non-payment or control.
• Collect & Pay — CMS collects from the paying parent and pays the receiving parent. Collection fees apply (20% on top for the paying parent, 4% deducted from the receiving parent). Recent reforms have reduced or removed those fees in DA cases — ask explicitly.
• Variations — either parent can apply if income is understated, the paying parent has unearned income (rent, dividends), assets over £31,250, or a "diversion of income" (e.g. paid through a company).
• Annual review — CMS pulls HMRC data each year. You can also request a mandatory reconsideration of a decision within 30 days of being notified.

• Every unpaid pound is arrears. CMS must move to enforcement; chase them in writing after 30 days of non-payment.
• Repeated late or partial payments are evidence of economic abuse under s.1(4) DAA 2021 and a course of controlling/coercive behaviour under s.76 Serious Crime Act 2015. Log them — date, amount expected, amount paid, your communications.
• Add a Form C1A to any family court proceedings citing economic abuse, with a chronology of missed payments and CMS correspondence as exhibits.

A paying parent who has accepted parentage for years — by being on the birth certificate, by paying voluntarily, by exercising contact, or by being assessed by CMS without objection — does not have a free-standing right to stop paying because they have decided, today, to demand a DNA test. Here is the law:

• Presumption of parentage. Section 26 of the Child Support Act 1991 sets out who is presumed to be a parent — being named on the birth certificate, a previous court declaration, marriage at the time of conception, and so on. Once a presumption applies, CMS proceeds and the burden is on the paying parent to displace it.
• How parentage disputes are resolved. Section 27 and 27A allow the paying parent to apply to court for a declaration of non-parentage and to seek a scientific (DNA) test under section 20 of the Family Law Reform Act 1969. The court decides — not CMS, and not the abuser.
• The child's consent and welfare. Under section 21(3) FLRA 1969 a sample from a child under 16 can only be taken with the consent of the person with care, or (if refused) where the court is satisfied it is in the child's best interests. The child's welfare is the court's paramount consideration (s.1 Children Act 1989).
• Article 8 ECHR. The child has a right to respect for private and family life and to know — and stably to keep — their identity. The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly held that long-established parentage may not be overturned lightly (e.g. Mikulić v Croatia [2002] 1 FCR 720; Mizzi v Malta (2006) 46 EHRR 27).
• UNCRC. Articles 3 (best interests), 7 (identity from birth), 8 (preservation of identity) and 27 (right to a standard of living adequate for development — and financial responsibility of both parents) underpin the welfare assessment.
• Maintenance continues. Maintenance is not suspended while a dispute is being investigated unless and until a court declares the paying parent is not the parent. CMS retains a discretion not to suspend collection where doing so would harm the child.

A DNA demand made years into payments, in close proximity to a family court application or a request for increased maintenance, is a recognised litigation-abuse tactic and should be set out in evidence as part of the pattern under Re H-N [2021] EWCA Civ 448 and PD12J.

1. Reply in writing only. Use the downloadable template below — it cites DAA 2021, s.26 CSA 1991, s.20 FLRA 1969, Article 8 ECHR and the UNCRC.
2. Tell the CMS in writing that you do not consent to the child being tested and ask them to maintain the existing calculation pending any court declaration under s.27 CSA 1991.
3. Add the request to your evidence journal as economic / litigation abuse, with screenshots of any messages.
4. Take legal advice — Rights of Women, FLOWS or Citizens Advice can help.

The Response to a late paternity / DNA demand template is available on the Templates page. It is addressed jointly to the paying parent and the CMS and references the legal framework above.

Open templates →

• GOV.UK — Child Maintenance Service
• GOV.UK — CMS & domestic abuse
• GOV.UK — Mandatory reconsideration
• Independent Case Examiner (ICE)
• Rights of Women — family law line
• FLOWS — Finding Legal Options for Women Survivors
• Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA)

National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Refuge): 0808 2000 247 — 24/7, free.