'They took £20,000 I didn't owe': Parents hit by child maintenance errors

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. 'They took £20,000 I didn't owe': Parents hit by child maintenance errors31 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleTammi Walker & Jennifer MeierhansBBC News InvestigationsJohn HammondJohn Hammond had nearly £20,000 in child maintenance he did not owe taken from his bankMaths teacher John Hammond was a few weeks into his job at a new school, chatting to colleagues in the staff room during lunch break. He decided to check his banking app to make sure his first month's wages had arrived, but instead discovered £20,000 had been taken by the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). "I was so shocked that I couldn't stop shaking," he says.

"Other teachers could see something was wrong and asked what was the matter. "Hammond's children were 25 and 28, and his child support arrangement had finished more than a decade previously. "I was convinced that it was a scam," says the 56-year-old from Peterborough.

The Details

More than 30 parents have told Your Voice they've experienced miscalculated child maintenance arrears, money wrongly taken from wages or bank accounts and lengthy court battles with the CMS. As in Hammond's case, the has found many of these reported issues are connected to child support arrangements concluded many years or even decades ago. The CMS replaced the Child Support Agency (CSA) in 2012.

Its job is to ensure a child's living costs are paid when one of their parents does not live with them. It uses a formula to work out how much a parent should pay. If parents cannot arrange payments privately the CMS can take the money from wages, bank accounts, benefits or pensions.

It also has the power to recover arrears if parents fall behind with payments. The experiences shared with the mirror concerns about the CMS raised with the government after parents told a House of Lords report money had been taken "inappropriately" when they were "trying to comply". The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which runs the CMS, did not address the experiences of John Hammond and other individual cases, or explain why in some cases money was taken wrongly from bank accounts.

What Experts Say

It said it tries to arrange voluntary arrears payments and "enforcement measures are only taken if parents continue not to pay". 'Complete shock'John Hammond believes his ordeal started in September 2002 when he received a letter from the now-defunct CSA which said he owed £947, but it did not intend to collect it at the request of his ex-wife. He believed he no longer owed any child maintenance.

But in 2019 he got a letter from the CMS saying he owed almost £19,000. "I was in complete shock," says Hammond, who disputed the demand, sending copies of the letters to the CMS. "You phone up and explain everything," he says.

"They tell you they can't access your account or that the computer says something different. It felt like banging your head against a wall. "In correspondence seen by the , the DWP said it was "unable to ascertain why" Hammond was told he owed £19,000.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.