Submitted on Tuesday 12th July 2022
Rejected on Monday 18th July 2022
Current status: Rejected
Rejection code: no-action (see below for details)
Stop allowing court orders being used to avoid child maintenance payments.
I would like the law to be changed so that if a parent doesn't comply with a court order to have their child, they must then pay child maintenance to support them.
I have been told by the Child Maintenance Service that if a court order is in place the CMS must adhere to what is written in it, even if a parent doesn't have the child as per the order. This means a parent can apply for a court order to have their child, not have the child and then not pay any financial support. I would like this changed.
You can't sign this petition because it was rejected. But you can still comment on it here at Repetition.me!
The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:
Petitions need to call on the Government or Parliament to take a specific action.
We understand that you are concerned about how child maintenance is calculated where there is a court order regarding child arrangements, but determining whether there is shared care is an operational decision for the Child Maintenance Service.
The Government's guidance on calculating child maintenance payments states:
"We ask both parents to give us formal, informal or spoken evidence of any agreement they have reached about shared care. We will also accept a court order setting out shared care details. If we accept that there is shared care, the weekly amount of child maintenance worked out [...] be reduced."
You can read the full guidance here: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/672432/how-we-work-out-child-maintenance.pdf
If you are unhappy with a determination the Child Maintenance Service has made about shared care you can find out how to complain about this here: www.gov.uk/child-maintenance-service/complaints-and-appeals
18.118.137.243 Mon, 06 May 2024 22:39:25 +0100
