The Public Services Committee in the House of Lords has launched an inquiry into the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).

Parliamentary Committees have a significant influence, and the government must respond to their recommendations as part of the inquiry process. 

Anyone can submit their written views to parliamentary inquiries like this and so it’s a great opportunity to have your say about what you would like to see changed about the CMS. 

 The Committee has some specific questions which they’re keen to hear answered, and we have also written a handy guide to help with your response.  

 We are also running a webinar on Monday 7th April at 12:30pm to talk through the guide. 

 Gingerbread has already given ‘oral evidence’ to the Committee. Our Head of Policy and Campaigns Sarah Lambert spoke to the Committee on 26th March. 

 She told them that the system for child maintenance in this country simply isn’t working. She highlighted that our Fix The CMS report showed 57% of parents with care who have a child maintenance arrangement in place (whether privately or through the CMS) were not regularly receiving the maintenance they should be getting. 

Sarah also highlighted the challenges parents face with the CMS. These range from long waiting times on the phone, unclear communications, to poor experiences of victim-survivors of domestic abuse and issues around the lack of enforcement. She further underlined the links between child poverty and child maintenance and noted the key recommendations of our Fix the CMS campaign included named caseworkers, improved digital communications, improved enforcement and better training for staff on domestic abuse. 

 You can watch the session in full here.  

 Download our handy guide and get involved in telling the Committee what you think needs to change.