Women’s Aid responds to recent High Court ruling on the Child Maintenance Service

Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women’s Aid, comments: 

“We are incredibly disappointed in the recent decision by the High Court in relation to the Child Maintenance Service and its suitability for survivors of domestic abuse, especially as half of receiving parents in the CMS are survivors.  

 

 

“We know from working with survivors of abuse that perpetrators often escalate abuse after the end of the relationship, in many cases using the CMS as a tool to inflict financial instability to prevent the survivor and her children from rebuilding their lives.  

 

“In our statement to the court, we made clear that CMS fails to identify and interrupt perpetrators’ tactics of abuse. As a result, thousands of survivors and their children are deprived of money they are rightfully owed, with many pushed into poverty. 

 

“The judgement confirms that the CMS has a ‘positive duty’ to protect survivors from economic abuse and we urge the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure the CMS fulfil this duty – for the sake of the survivors and the children who are currently being failed and facing increased hardship and suffering as a consequence.”