Closed petition Reform Child Maintenance Service: Support Active Fathers & End Historic Arrears

The CMS is meant to support children - we think that too often, it’s tearing families apart. We feel that many loving, active fathers are treated unfairly & that the CMS ignores shared parenting, fails to recognise time spent with children, & can create unaffordable debt that parents can’t dispute.

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Some are being chased for historic arrears they never had a chance to challenge, pushing some families into hardship and damaging the very children the system is meant to protect.

We’re calling for change.
The CMS must:

Recognise shared parenting in its calculations.
Allow fair reviews and appeals of old debts.
Write off unfair or unaffordable historic arrears.

This petition is closed All petitions run for 6 months

285 signatures

Progress of the petition towards its next target: 285 of 10,000 signatures required to get a government response

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10,000 signatures required to get a government response

Date closed 27 April 2026
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