Rejected petition Reform child maintenance to be fair, balanced and reflect modern families

Base child maintenance on net income and exclude non-guaranteed bonuses, factor in essential living and housing costs of paying parent, and protect meaningful access to both parents by discouraging withheld contact and supporting cooperative parenting except where safeguarding concerns exist.

More details

The current child maintenance system focuses on gross income and often fails to account for disposable income, income stability, or unavoidable financial obligations of the non-resident parent, including continuing to pay the mortgage on the former family home. In some cases, it creates financial incentives that discourage shared parenting, causing hardship, reducing cooperation, increasing conflict, and producing outcomes that may not serve the child’s best interests.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.

The following petition calls for a similar action:

Reform Child Maintenance Service, strengthen processes to protect paying parent
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/755824

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 27 January 2026
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