Fathers in the UK are reporting severe financial hardship, including poverty and suicide, due to alleged overcharges and systemic failures within the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). Critics have dubbed the situation the "new Post Office scandal," drawing parallels to the widespread miscarriage of justice involving the Post Office's Horizon IT system.
Despite the serious allegations, Simon Hunter, director of the CMS, expressed pride in the agency's "modernisation journey" and "digital improvements," which he described as making the service "slick and more usable" and "incredibly accessible." His upbeat assessment last year has met with disbelief from parents who claim to have suffered immense financial distress.
The CMS, established in 2012 to replace the problematic Child Support Agency, is responsible for managing child maintenance payments for over 800,000 parents annually, totaling approximately £1.6 billion. Payments are calculated based on income, the number of children, and other factors. However, parents have reported being subjected to inflated demands, with the CMS possessing powers to automatically seize funds from bank accounts or deduct directly from salaries, even during appeals.
Stories of hardship have emerged since an earlier investigation highlighted the issues. One father reported his monthly maintenance demand inexplicably jumping from under £500 to over £5,000 following a modest pay rise. Despite extensive evidence presented by the Daily Mail, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which oversees the CMS, initially released a statement asserting the accuracy of its assessments and offering no apology or compassion for the reported tragic cases.
Simon Hunter, who earns up to £125,000 annually, has a background in the private sector, including roles at Vodafone and Axa, and managed a call center before joining the CMS in May 2023. His daughter also joined the CMS in 2025 and was promoted to financial investigator. Critics question the agency's functioning, particularly its IT systems.
Gerry McMonagle, a physical education teacher and separated father of two, recounted years of diligent payments until the CMS erroneously added a non-existent third child to his case in 2015, leading to a £5,000 bill for arrears. Despite acknowledging the error, his debt has not been resolved, leaving him facing continued demands. He noted that his case file referenced "System errors with performance calculations," a claim the DWP denies, stating that allegations of "systemic IT glitches" are "misleading and untrue."
Evidence suggests ongoing IT issues. Chris Toft, a finance worker, documented his struggles to access his online CMS portal, stating he could not open crucial notifications, including one warning of immediate legal action for non-payment, because the linked page was unavailable. He reported being unable to log in about 90% of the time and experiencing system failures when attempting to make payments. Toft described severe depression and financial hardship, having to scavenge food from supermarket bins at one point.
Numerous letters to parents from the CMS, some as recent as the past two years, admit "technical errors" leading to incorrect calculations or payment demands. Steve Martin was subjected to a tenfold increase in his weekly payments, from £98 to £1,922, after a "technical fault" incorrectly removed his eldest son from the case and the system wrongly inflated his income by over 100%. Although a judge later ordered the CMS to revert to original calculations, a third "technical error" allegedly kept the inflated arrears on his account.
Paul Pizzey reported a CMS worker admitting that "mistaken arrears" were added to his account, with case workers acknowledging ongoing IT issues and one referring to the failings as the "will of doom." Shaun Hancock received a demand for £1,100 per week with £2,100 in arrears eight months after he was no longer liable for payments due to shared custody.
A DWP spokesperson stated that the CMS deals with complex family situations with the priority of protecting children. They maintained there is "no evidence of systemic IT glitches" affecting calculations and that "externally audited assessments show high accuracy rates in almost all cases." The department also noted that payment arrangements are fair and based on the paying parent's income, with an appeals process available.
Following a BBC Panorama investigation, mothers who received maintenance payments also described being "massively let down" by the "broken" CMS. Hunter, addressing the cameras this time, apologized for "administrative mistakes" but reiterated that most customers use the service without problems and that the majority are "highly satisfied."
Despite assurances from the DWP that the CMS situation is "not like Horizon at all," Gerry McMonagle remains unconvinced, stating, "This seems worse than the Post Office scandal."