Closed petition Require proof of education for child maintenance for children aged 16-20

Closed on 3 September 2023

The Child Maintenance Service rely on claiming parents as to whether a child aged 16-20 is in full-time education. Paying parents can struggle to prove if they think the child isn't studying full time, so receiving parents should be required to prove a child aged 16-20 is in full-time education.

We believe the way Child Maintenance is dealing with these issues is unfair, and that this change would help a lot of paying parents achieve a fair outcome in Child Maintenance cases for children over 16. CMS seem to rely on what the claiming parent says even if they don't have evidence for it. This is wrong. The claiming parent should have to evidence how many hours the child is studying at the school. If it's under 12 hours per week, that would mean the paying parent wouldn't have to pay child maintenance.