Closed petition Only require child maintenance from fathers listed on birth certificate

Closed on 19 February 2023

The Government should change the rules for child maintenance, so that mothers can only apply for child maintenance when the birth father is listed on the birth certificate.

This would help to prevent mothers who refuse to voluntarily add the father to the birth certificate from seeking to claim child maintenance from a man who may not be the father. It would also prevent men who dispute the fatherhood and don’t feel they should have to pay maintenance from having to pay for a DNA test to prove it (could be hundreds of pounds).