It is important to understand that if a parent who is supposed to pay child maintenance does not pay, they may face serious financial and legal implications. This will depend on whether there is a consent order in place or the child maintenance arrangement was made through the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). If you are using the CMS to arrange child maintenance, but the paying parent refuses to pay, the CMS can take enforcement measures to collect the payment. The CMS has a range of ways of forcing child maintenance to be paid (enforcement measures), including issuing a direct earnings order to have the amount owed taken from the parent’s salary or taking further legal action through the courts. Alternatively, they can try to get the overdue amount from the other parent’s benefits or directly from their bank account.
If you have an informal family-based arrangement in place for the payment of child maintenance that is not legally binding, it may be more difficult to force the other parent to pay any child maintenance owed. In this case, it is important to consult a family law solicitor who can advise how best to resolve the matter and put a legally binding arrangement for child maintenance in place.
What happens when child maintenance payments are late?
If a child maintenance payment is late or stopped by your child’s other parent, the first point of contact is the CMS. The CMS uses two main methods for payment of child maintenance: Direct Pay (where the money paid does not go through CMS) and Collect and Pay (where the money paid goes through CMS). If the payment arrangement is through Direct Pay, the CMS will chase the payment from the other parent. If the child maintenance is paid through Collect and Pay, they will already have a record of any overdue child maintenance payments and chase these on your behalf.
If you are a paying parent and you are late paying any child maintenance due, you can expect to be contacted by the CMS requesting the overdue payment. If you do not settle the overdue payment, the CMS may take further action against you to force you to pay. For this reason, if you think that you may be late in making a child maintenance payment, we recommend contacting the CMS as soon as possible and letting them know in advance. Doing so may help you to avoid enforcement action by the CMS if your payment is delayed.
There are several possible ways that CMS can recover any unpaid child maintenance from the paying parent, including:
- Wage deduction
- Deduction from the bank or building society
- Court Liability Order
- Bailiffs and Charging Order
Wage deduction
The CMS have the authority to collect unpaid child maintenance payments directly from the wages of the paying parent, assuming they are employed. This is called an ‘attachment of earnings order’. Under this arrangement, the employer can charge £1 to cover their administrative costs. In addition, the CMS may charge a fee of £50.
Deduction from the bank or building society
The CMS can request a direct deduction from the bank or society of the paying parent, either as a one-off, regular payment, or lump sum payment. Fees for this arrangement can range from £50 to £200, payable to the CMS.
Court Liability Order
If the above methods do not clear the debt owed, the CMS may ask the court for a liability order. If the court issues a liability order, further action can be taken to recover the money owed, including referral to a credit reference agency, using a bailiff, issuing a charging order, and committal action (i.e. imprisonment).
Bailiffs and Charging Order
With a court liability order in place, the CMS can then refer the matter to a debt recovery bailiff. Bailiffs have the legal authority to take belongings (e.g. a car) from the other parent, which they can sell in order to recover the money owed.
If the paying parent owns their own property, the CMS may apply to the court for a ‘charging order’ and then an ‘order for sale’. An order for sale will require the paying parent to sell the property and to pay any money owed from the proceeds of the sale.
Other actions from CMS if you don’t pay child support
The CMS have other options available, including sending details of the debt to a credit reference agency. This may have the effect of damaging the credit rating of the paying parent, making it hard for them to borrow money in the future. In some cases, the CMS may ask a magistrates court to intervene, leading to possible imprisonment.
Consent Order Enforcement
If you and your ex-partner have a legally binding consent order in place setting out the terms for the payment of child maintenance, there are steps you can take to have this enforced if they do not pay. The first step to take is to inform the court that the paying parent has breached the order. If the court agrees, they have a range of options available, including:
- an attachment of earnings order
- a warrant of control
- a third-party debt order
- a charging order
- a judgment summons
- a method of enforcement that the court considers appropriate
You can request enforcement action by completing ‘Form D50K – Notice of Application for Enforcement by such method of enforcement as the court may consider appropriate’. The paying parent will be required to attend a hearing where a judge will then decide how best to enforce the order.
Other options when your ex doesn’t pay child maintenance
Taking action through the CMS or asking the courts to intervene are not the only options if a parent is not paying child maintenance when they are required to. Other possible options include mediation and even making a new CMS application. Mediation is an extremely effective way of resolving even the most difficult disputes regarding non-payment of child maintenance. Not only can mediation overcome the dispute more quickly than taking court action, but it also better preserves the relationship between the separated parents and ensures that any agreement reached is more likely to be adhered to.
If you decide to make a CMS application for child maintenance and you already have a court order/consent order in place, you will need to wait until the order is at least one year old. For this reason, if you are within the one-year period, it may be valuable to seek legal advice on your options for non-payment of child maintenance. Remember, while the CMS have several ways of collecting overdue payments, these methods may not be effective if:
- Your ex-partner lives outside the UK.
- You need extra expenses for your child, such as private school fees.
- Your ex-partner earns more than £156,000 a year, and you want more child maintenance – for this, you would need to apply through the courts.
In any event, no matter the circumstances of the case, if your ex-partner is not paying child maintenance when they should, speak to a family law solicitor who can provide advice tailored to your situation.
