We know from official statistics and what we hear on our helpline that the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) doesn’t always ensure child maintenance gets to the families of children who are entitled to it. We also know that there are many separated parents who have no maintenance arrangement in place at all.

We’re carrying out some research to find out more about the experiences of parents using the CMS, and to find out who is not using the CMS and why. As part of this, we’d like to speak to people with a range of experiences.

Who we’re looking for

We’d like to hear from people with the following experience:

• People who have experience of Direct Pay through the CMS
• People who have experience of Collect and Pay through the CMS
• People who have private arrangements in place
• People who don’t have any child maintenance arrangements in place

We’d like to speak to parents who do most of the day-to-day care of their child, as well as parents whose child doesn’t usually live with them.

If you might be happy to talk to a researcher about your experiences either in a focus group or individually, please click on the form below. The form will ask you to provide some details about your situation and register your interest. Everyone who takes part will be offered a shopping voucher as a thank you for their time.

(Because we want to speak to people with a range of experiences, we may not be able to include everyone who registers an interest in a focus group or interview. As part of this research, we’ll also be conducting a survey, so you will also have the opportunity to share your experiences through the survey.)