Child Maintenance System Exploited by Abusers to Maintain Control Over Victims
When Phoebe's former partner was imprisoned for inflicting life-threatening injuries upon her, she believed his reign of terror had finally concluded. However, years after he completed his 18-month sentence, she asserts he continues to manipulate her by exploiting the very system designed to support their shared child.
The Invisible Chain of Control
Through the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), the government mechanism intended to ensure separated parents contribute financially to their children's upbringing, Phoebe claims her ex-partner systematically withholds payments, underdeclares his income, and prolongs arrears. This maintains what she describes as an 'invisible chain' tethering her to him.
The CMS assessed her ex-partner's finances, resulting in the Yorkshire mother receiving a mere £7 per week. Even this paltry sum, she reports, has not been paid reliably.
'I'm just reminded of the cycle of abuse and I feel like I'm back with him,' Phoebe (a pseudonym) told the Daily Mail. 'I've worked so hard to move on and heal in all other aspects of my life and I don't want to even have to talk about him.'
A National Crisis in Child Support
Phoebe's distressing experience reflects a broader national concern. Over one million children in the UK are covered by CMS arrangements. Campaigners warn that enforcement gaps and self-employment loopholes enable maintenance to be manipulated or avoided entirely.
'I would go months and sometimes up to a year without any money because he was paying such a small amount for such a long time for the debt to build up,' Phoebe explained. 'He was only ever declaring one out of his three businesses, but I didn't know that until years down the line. He would not pay.'
This behaviour constitutes 'economic abuse,' a legally recognised but frequently overlooked form of domestic abuse. It has been acknowledged for the first time in the Government's Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy this year.
The Statistics of Economic Abuse
The mother-of-one from Yorkshire joins 4.1 million women in the UK who experienced economic abuse from a current or former partner in the last year, revealing an epidemic of abuse concealed within households. Women with children are nearly three times more likely to suffer economic abuse compared to those without.
For Phoebe, financial control formed part of a prolonged pattern of coercion predating the prison sentence. She alleges her ex-partner forced her to take out a loan during their relationship, leaving her £20,000 in debt.
'I was told I was eligible for a £6,000 loan. I instantly denied the offer but my ex gave me a look,' Phoebe recalled. 'The woman in the bank then said she would give us a moment to discuss this. It was my bank account, in my name yet for some reason she was giving him an option to have a say in the decision.'
'I was barely surviving as it was. I was in a dangerous relationship in a constant state of fear trying to manage the abuse. So, reluctantly, I signed up for a personal loan in my name.'
Violence and Recovery
The abuse escalated to violence when she ended the relationship, with her ex-partner threatening to kill her. The subsequent assault necessitated reconstructive surgery. Phoebe rebuilt a life for her son in a flat with 'no furniture and no curtains,' and has since had the debt written off.
Yet, she states her ex-partner's failure to pay maintenance for their now 17-year-old child remains a continuous battle. She is currently over £5,000 in debt from unpaid child maintenance, with her ex-partner 'refusing to pay,' leaving her panicked over the enduring control she feels he wields.
'It is really traumatising when I have to keep ringing the CMS up about missed payments. It is really traumatising and frustrating that after all these years later, he's still got this control over me,' she said. 'There's still an invisible chain linking me to him and he knows that.'
'I think it's disgusting that he can even get away with it and can't fathom how anybody would not want to pay for their child, especially after what he did.'
Systemic Loopholes and Mounting Debt
Child maintenance amounts are determined by the paying parent's weekly income, but abusers frequently exploit loopholes by failing to declare accurate earnings. Since the CMS began in 2012, £756.6 million in unpaid maintenance has accumulated, leaving children without essentials and, in some cases, plunging families into poverty.
Payments can be made directly between parents via 'Direct Pay' or through the CMS via 'Collect and Pay,' which incurs a fee. One loophole Phoebe's ex-partner allegedly uses involves accumulating enough debt to approach a court liability order, then paying a small portion to reset the cycle.
'He would reach £500 and go over. He would ring up to pay a little bit off the debt before it was about to go to court for a liability order,' she explained. 'And so the debt would drop down and then we'd have to start the cycle again. It would hit the reset button every time.'
This left Phoebe supporting her son almost entirely alone while buried in debt, eroding her faith in the system. 'The CMS seems to be definitely in the favour of the paid person,' she asserted. 'There are no three strikes and you are out. He knows how the system operates and definitely plays it.'
Another Victim's Story
The tactical manipulation of the CMS is an experience shared by Gemma, another mother who suffered economic abuse. The mother-of-three was left £40,000 in debt accumulated in her name by her ex-partner, 'unbeknown' to her.
'They are all electronic agreements with the banks. I have tried to fix them but I've had absolutely no change in doing that,' Gemma told the Daily Mail.
Gemma's ex-partner fled their family home and 10-year marriage after she discovered he was living a 'double life' as an escort and having 'various sexual affairs.' Their divorce was finalised in December 2019.
'I found things on his laptop and things started to unravel. Once he knew that I had found out, he just left,' she said. 'We have never seen him again.'
Gemma, from Preston, Lancashire, is owed over £5,000 in child maintenance payments from her ex-partner, whom she accuses of lying about his earnings. She has also encountered CMS issues, including payments mistakenly sent to the mother of his other child. Since the error was identified, she has received intermittent payments.
'I think the service just needs completely disbanding and starting from the ground up,' Gemma argued. 'They have said things to me in the past, like, if you could sort this out between yourself, you wouldn't need to use the CMS. Exactly, I wouldn't. I wouldn't ever want to use this service if I didn't have to.'
The teacher contends abusers exploit 'too many loopholes' in the CMS, making it 'too easy to avoid payment.'
Legal Perspectives and Campaigner Demands
Family lawyer Jennifer Beck confirmed to the Daily Mail that it is common for abusers to conceal earnings, stating 'there are all sorts of tricks to underpay income.' The co-founder of law firm Beck Fitzgerald added: 'The child maintenance system is not tightly controlled otherwise there wouldn't be all these tricks and mechanisms around it. We have even had people giving up work in order to not pay child maintenance.'
This extends to situations where paying partners are imprisoned and child maintenance ceases due to lack of income. Ms Beck claims this discourages victims from reporting abuse, as 'people keep in mind how they are going to survive.'
Sam Smethers, CEO of charity Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA), described domestic abusers as 'weaponising' the CMS to 'control survivors and harm their children long after they have fled.' She emphasised: 'For many children, these payments are the only thing keeping them out of poverty.'
SEA and other charities, including Gingerbread, have campaigned for a comprehensive overhaul of the CMS and rigorous reforms. The Government announced reforms last year to remove the 'Direct Pay' option, but campaigners argue these measures are insufficient.
Abigail Wood, CEO of Gingerbread, stated: 'The CMS should ensure that children are financially supported by both parents. The proposed changes to the CMS are welcome but we have concerns that they don't go far enough and they won't be brought in quickly enough to protect those the system is failing right now.'
A spokesperson from the Department for Work and Pensions told the Daily Mail: 'Since its inception in 2012, the Child Maintenance Service has arranged over £10billion of vital payments for children. To improve the service, we are aiming to remove Direct Pay, so we can better check parents are paying what they should be and remove the requirement for those who have separated to interact - helping cut cases of abuse and financial bullying.'
