Submitted by Stuart Smith on Sunday 15th March 2026
Published on Wednesday 15th April 2026
Current status: Open
Open until: Thursday 15th October 2026
Current Signatures: 26
(count is updated approximately hourly)
Relevant Departments
Tagged with
Benefits ~ Child ~ Child Benefit ~ Child maintenance ~ Children ~ Ensure ~ Equal ~ Fairness ~ Fairs ~ Forced ~ Genuine ~ Healthcare ~ Ignore ~ Parent ~ Primary ~ Regulations ~ Schools
Update child maintenance regulations to better recognise equal care arrangements
Introduce a presumption of equal care where children live roughly equally with both parents. Update regulation 50 guidance to reduce reliance on Child Benefit to determine which parent is liable for child maintenance payments.
Parents who share care equally are often forced to pay child maintenance because CMS commonly assumes the Child Benefit recipient is the primary carer. This assumption can ignore clear evidence from schools, healthcare records, calendars, and communications. We believe updating Regulation 50 would help to recognise genuine 50/50 parenting, reduce unnecessary disputes and tribunal appeals, save public resources, and ensure fair maintenance calculations.
If you want to sign this petition (as opposed to merely discuss it), you need to do that on the government's e-Petitions website.
216.73.217.179 Tue, 23 Jun 2026 13:53:42 +0100
