More money reaching children than ever thanks to Child Maintenance Service
What was announced
Children across the country are benefitting from a record high in payments being made by parents through an improved Child Maintenance Service (CMS).
Key points, in the publisher's words
- Nearly 130,000 parents are now paying more than 90% of the child maintenance due, a record high and up 27% in a year.
- Newly-released figures also show number of parents paying nothing has fallen by almost 20% since March 2025.
- Government determined to turn the tide on child poverty and improve life chances across every postcode.
Figures in this announcement
Each line is quoted from the original. Figures are as the publisher stated them on the day.
- “Nearly 130,000 parents are now paying more than 90% of the child maintenance due, a record high and up 27% in a year.”
- “Newly-released figures also show number of parents paying nothing has fallen by almost 20% since March 2025.”
- “The data shows the majority of parents using the service’s Collect & Pay function - nearly 130,000 parents - are now paying more than 90% of the maintenance due, up by around 27% in the last year.”
- “At the same time, the number of parents paying nothing has fallen by around 19% since March 2025, while CMS is supporting almost 1.6 million parents across Great Britain.”
- “The figures come as the Government works to tackle child poverty and give every child the best start in life, with child maintenance arrangements helping keep around 120,000 children out of relative poverty and providing vital support with the everyday costs of raising a child.”
- “The figures show significant improvements in customer service, with 85% of calls now answered, compared with 59% in summer 2024, while average waiting times have fallen from more than 28 minutes to just over 11 minutes.”
Check it against the official record
The latest official figures on the subjects this story covers, each with its source and full history:
Who and where
UK bodies of power
- Department for Work and Pensions (UK government department) · more news
Where this sits in the 10 levels of power
Topics, as GOV.UK files them: Child Benefit.
Receipt
- Original: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/more-money-reaching-children-than-ever-thanks-to-child-maintenance-service
- Published 2026-10-23 10:55:10 UTC
- Read by this site 2026-10-23 19:45:30 UTC from GOV.UK
- Saved copy: receipt 780, with its SHA-256 fingerprint
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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