• The fathers driven to suicide, breakdown and penury by chaotic dysfunction in the Child Maintenance Service
• See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source

MPs have demanded urgent action over 'systemic' failings with the Child Maintenance Service after a damning Mail exposé.

Campaigners called for a 'complete overhaul' of the government agency after we revealed how parents are being financially crippled, losing homes and even driven to suicide after being hit with massively inflated charges.

Computer glitches and staffing issues are suspected of causing the long-running problems with the Child Maintenance Service (CMS), which has led to tens of thousands of parents being overcharged – forcing some to rely on food banks or move away from their children.

Over 800,000 UK parents have payments to a former partner managed by the CMS, which is meant to ensure children are provided for when relationships end and they spend more than half the time living with one parent.

One of the shocking cases highlighted was that of Jonathan O'Neill, 41, of Huddersfield, who tragically killed himself after a demand for an extra £4,200 – and whose family continued to receive new payment demands for months after his death, according to his sister Joanna Smith.

She said: 'It feels like they just don't care, they are not bothered. But it has ripped our lives into bits.'

Other harrowing stories include those of Army veteran Simon Ward, 45, from Herefordshire, who said he was left 'financially and emotionally crippled' and forced to resort to foodbanks, after his payments increased from £36.40 to £419 per month.

And Carl Leverett, 48, from Northamptonshire, was told he owed £77,000.

MPs have demanded urgent action over 'systemic' failings with the Child Maintenance Service after a damning Mail exposé. Pictured: Jonathan O'Neill, 41, of Huddersfield, pictured with his sister Joanna Smith, tragically killed himself after a demand for an extra £4,200

Former Royal Engineers Warrant Officer Simon Ward, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, had to survive on foodbanks amid demanding child maintenance payments

Carl Leverett, 48, from Northamptonshire, was told he owed £77,000 by the CMS

MPs described being inundated with complaints from constituents about the CMS, which has drawn comparisons with the Post Office scandal.

Liberal Democrat MP Ian Sollom said: 'The Mail's investigation exposes a Child Maintenance Service that gets calculations wrong and then pursues parents for money they don't owe – even while they are disputing their case.

'Ministers need to fix a system that is causing financial harm and emotional distress to families.'

Ian Briggs, co-founder of STOPSuicides UK, a campaign group highlighting failings in the CMS, added: 'We regularly hear from parents who describe overwhelming financial pressure, prolonged disputes and deteriorating mental health, with some reaching suicidal crisis.

'This investigation should be a catalyst for a public inquiry, urgent reform, stronger safeguarding and greater accountability.'

In another case, father Belzuan Zeka was left 'panicking' in the week before Christmas 2025 after being sent four different payment demands ranging from £180 to £3,500 a month.

He said: 'For a government agency that has this much power, it feels there is virtually no accountability.'

Michelle Counley of child maintenance support advisory service NACSA, said: 'The Mail's investigation highlights the problems we see on a weekly basis. The system is failing to provide timely and accurate maintenance calculations, creating false arrears leading to unaffordable demands.'

Other MPs joined the outcry. Reform UK's Deputy Leader Richard Tice added: 'Institutional reluctance to accept failings has slowly turned into acceptance that it can and should do much better.'

Vikki Slade, Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, said: 'Ultimately, the CMS needs urgent and complete reform so that children's welfare and financial stability come first.'

And Rebecca Smith, Conservative MP from South West Devon, said: 'Too many families currently feel they are being let down.'

Most paying parents have to provide between 12 and 19 per cent of their income, calculated primarily using HMRC records, until their child finishes full-time education or training, or turns 20.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which oversees the CMS, denied there were 'systemic IT glitches within the CMS' and insisted these claims were 'misleading.'

A spokeswoman said: 'In 2018, the system experienced some slow response times due to a series of system upgrades to address matters such as insufficient storage, but these never impacted calculations and were rectified in late 2018 following significant IT improvements.

'Receiving multiple letters reflects the process in which a letter with a new calculation is sent every time a change is registered including a new job or a change in overnight care arrangements.

'These are often made within quick succession of one another which can lead to multiple letters over a short period of time.

'Payment arrangements are fair and are based on the paying parent's income with assessment accuracy rates consistently close to 100 per cent.

'If parents dispute a decision, it can be appealed, and an independent tribunal will decide if it should be changed.'