The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is to clamp down on domestic abuse by providing a safer system for maintenance payments. 

New Measures 

Survivors of abuse will be able to allow the CMS to collect and make payments on their behalf without the consent of an abusive ex-partner. This prevents perpetrators from using child maintenance as a form of ongoing financial abuse and control, ensuring survivors don’t need to have contact with their ex-partners if there is evidence of domestic violence. 

Additional Support 

The CMS will also gain new powers to report suspected financial coercion cases to the Crown Prosecution Service. One-to-one support for survivors will be piloted, and domestic abuse training for staff will be improved. 

Background 

These changes follow a review by Dr. Samantha Callan, a leading expert on domestic abuse, commissioned by the DWP after the tragic death of Emma Day, murdered by her ex-partner. Dr. Callan emphasized the importance of recognizing financial and coercive control as forms of domestic abuse that can continue post-separation. 

The government is also updating the Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Statutory Guidance to assist in identifying, investigating, and evidencing domestic abuse offenses, with the updated guidance to be published in the spring.