The consultation period for the proposed introduction of charging parents for the use of the Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission (CMEC) closed last week.
The changes proposed in the initial report were to charge parents £100 for making an application with ongoing charges of up to 12% of the maintenance payments, if those payments are collected via CMEC. The government has stated that the proposals will encourage separating parents to come to a private arrangement and lift some of the burden from the state. This assertion seems to be misguided and has been met with resistance from parents, charities and many others.
The deficiencies of the CSA (now being replaced by CMEC) have been widely reported for many years. The CSA is well known for delays, inaccurate calculations and failure to enforce payments.
The vast majority of parents who have any chance of reaching an agreement regarding child maintenance will do so before turning to the CSA/CMEC. It is seen by most people as a last resort and this does not fit with the inference that people are simply relying on the state instead of bothering to make their own arrangements.
It is unlikely that the introduction of charges will persuade people to reach private agreements as most will have already tried and failed before going to CMEC in the first place. In fact, those parents who will not pay are probably being given another layer of protection – if they know the other parent cannot afford the charges, they will be more confident that they will not be referred to CMEC and may continue to fail to make payments.
Private agreements are always better where they can be achieved but charging those who have failed to reach agreement is unlikely to produce the result the government claims.